Sketching Arpeggio's
by Converse r life
Summary: Kathy used to wish for a life beyond her small town, and she got her wish...with not so great results. She's now struggling to live in two worlds, with two families. But when tragedy strikes, can either family understand her pain? Sequel to Broken Waltz!
1. Chapter 1

"...pyramid's uses include---Kathy, are you paying attention?" The clearly irritated voice of the teenager's teacher questioned, as the girl looked up, clearly pulled out of her daydream and back into life.

"Huh? What?" Her voice wondered, as the teacher's question played back in her mind and the class snickered at her being caught and being embarrassed by her teacher. "Um...yeah." Kathy's clear voice said, her cheeks growing red as she looked back down at her history book, wishing she could just disappear right now. Which she could in all rights do, considering that she was a witch and her SpellBook was literally in her book bag. Though, it might look a bit strange to her teacher if she just became invisible.

"Then you wouldn't mind to start reading where we left off?" Ms. Anderson's beady eyes stared straight through Harmony, as if she could read the girl's every thought. Her beak like nose contrasted with her chubby face, creating a mixture of fear and laughter in each of the children she taught thoughts.

"Um....'King's' were known as pharaohs, and they were---" An irritated sigh made Kathy cut off from where she was reading in her book, and look up at her teacher who had made the noise. The class snickered behind her back as she winced, realizing her mistake before it could be pointed out.

"Wrong page." Ms. Anderson's face was a mix between clearly annoyed, and angry at her student for the mistake she'd made. Tapping her fingers against the podium her own Social Studies book was planted on, she looked down at the teen, who shrunk in her seat, cheeks heating up. "Can anyone tell Miss Johnson what page we were on?" Kathy again winced at the sound of her teacher's voice, and at the whispers that were already starting to form behind her back. Damn, it had been two months since she 'ran away' and yet still there were the constant rumors behind her back.

That period of time when she had gone somehow gone back to her real parents was still a hot topic at school....which Kathy or Harmony as she now preferred to be called, more than ever wished she didn't have to go to. Of course her friends had welcomed her back into their lives with no strings attached....but the rest of the school still couldn't. Whispers floated around about her, and whispers soon became rumors that were hard to extinguish.

Of course, her parents--both adopted and real--had no idea of that though. They thought she was getting along fine in school, and that everything was okay. But it wasn't. Harmony felt an instant surge of pain as she thought that, but pushed it down, telling herself not to deal with it right now. She had more important things to think about, like how she was going to survive the rest of this day.

The magic inside of her was begging her to be used, to at least hold a small fire in her hand, but she refused to give into her need to use the powers within her. Not until later, she reminded herself, not until she was in the one place where her powers were accepted as part of her....well, for the most part anyway.

Sighing to herself softly at that, she glanced up at the clock in the room, only to realize she had fifteen more minutes 'till she was free from this dreaded curse they called school....at least, free for the weekend. Only fourteen minutes now....fourteen minutes until she was gone---

"Do you have your homework Miss Johnson?" Harmony, startled, looked up at her teacher, as the older woman gave an exasperated sigh. Harmony resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she went searching through her bag for that homework she'd done the afternoon before. Shuffling around books and various loose papers that were in her bag, her heart slowly started sinking as she realized that her homework wasn't in her bag. Not again, her mind groaned, as she bit her lip and looked up sheepishly at her teacher.

"No. I don't have it. I left it at home." Harmony said, waiting for the rebuke now. She knew it was coming, and hearing her teacher's whiney high pitched voice tell her the same thing over and over was a routine now.

"This is the third time in a row, _this week_ Katherine." Ms. Anderson said, as her beady eyes swept over the girl whose cheeks were tinged red. "I'm sending a note home with you to be signed by both your parents, concerning your grade at the moment. Go outside until we're done reviewing the homework." Ms. Anderson said, as Harmony took in a breath and tried to keep calm. Honestly, the teacher was starting to get on her nerves.

"Okay." Harmony said, a bit too quickly, as she grabbed her book bag, knowing she wouldn't be allowed into class for awhile, and also grabbed her coat. The smirks on everyone's faces captured her attention for a moment, as she thought about how easy it would be to just hurt them with a little fire, just a little...

"Ow!" Harmony exclaimed, as she bumped straight into the door that led to her escape from the room. Her cheeks went as red as her hair as the kids in her class started laughing at the scene of her bumping into the wall, proving her strangeness to them. Biting back tears, she quickly opened the door and slammed it shut, as she stepped outside.

The cold wind took hold of her body for a moment, coursing through it and gently soothing her as she wiped back the tears with her arm, and pulled her coat on around her tightly. Slinging the bag over her shoulder, with barely a glance back, she started walking to the girl's bathroom, ignoring the stares of the kids she past.

Getting into the much neglected and graffitied stall, she closed her eyes a moment and tried to grip onto reality, struggling still not to cry. They don't know what they're talking about, it's nothing, calm down, her mind tried saying, and it actually worked, as Harmony let herself believe that load of hogwash.

By the time she exited the girl's bathroom, she looked normal, as though she hadn't just had a mini break down in there. The final bell of school rung, and Harmony knew she should head back to her history class to get that note her teacher had said she'd be sending home...but what was the need to ruin her weekend? Smiling a rebellious smile to herself, she weaved through the crowd of high school kids and finally made it to her locker.

"You want to catch a movie at the 'Max this weekend? My mom could drive us there...." Emma's voice wondered, as she opened the padlock on her own locker which was right next to her best friend's. Harmony gave her friend a small smile, before shaking her head and rather forcefully shoving her history book into her locker.

"No, I've got....family stuff this weekend...you know how it is." Harmony said with a sorry grin, as Emma didn't comment on her friend's irregular 'family stuff' that she seemed to have every time she wanted to hang out. Pressing for details wouldn't get her best friend since sixth grade, she knew. She just had to let Kathy---er Harmony as for some reason she wanted to be called---talk on her own, when she was ready...no matter how long that might be.

"See you 'round, 'k?" Emma said, knowing when the leave her best friend alone. She was hoping the girl would stop her, say that she could blow off her 'family stuff' this weekend, do something that she would've done normally before she had gone missing....but Harmony only gave her friend a slight nod, as she turned on her heel to go to her brother's car. Emma sighed hurtfully, but knowing there was nothing she could do, she shut her locker door and just hoped that her best friend would talk soon.

"You okay?" Ryan asked, as her turned the key to start his car's ignition on. He probably knew his sister better than anyone on this planet, even her own _real_ parents. Coming back for his sister had been...awkward. His parents had no idea anymore on what to treat her like, how to talk to her....it been like this since they'd found out that she was a witch, and they heard the entire story of when she was gone. Why his sister still stuck around, he had no idea, but was glad for it either way. He couldn't bear to lose her again.

"Yeah. Fine." Harmony's words were said in one breath, as she stared out the window, silently watching as the bare trees past by her quickly in the car. Snow was everywhere nowadays, which was making Harmony more anxious to use her powers by the moment. Somehow, she managed not to speak a word the entire car ride, or even use her power which was the more surprising thing to the girl as she raced up the steps to her room.

She stood in the middle of the room, with her bag slung over her shoulder, and took in a deep breath of the _Frebreze_ smell it had to it. Then closing her eyes, she only had to think of that one place....and in moments she was there.

* * *

**Yay! First chapter! I'm sooo happy! Now, before you kill me for not posting this sooner, remember that i was on vacation for a week in St. Thomas, and my room had NO internet *sob* so i really couldn't post anything up. But it's up now, and soon there shall be more so wait and see! :) **


	2. Chapter 2

"Harmony!" Melody's excited voice cried out, as her sister appeared before her. The girl opened her eyes in amusement as she was suddenly swept into a tight hug from her sister, to which she didn't return. "I haven't seen you in a week! Mom and Dad were getting worried since you didn't come and it gets so boring around here without you---" Melody suddenly cut off when Harmony disentangled herself from her sister's arms, and dropped her heavy backpack on the wooden floorboards of her room, letting the sound echo.

"Oh God, you don't know how much better that feels!" Harmony's voice sighed, rolling her shoulder back in pain, as she tried to rub it. It was official; all her teachers wanted her to get scoliosis. A brief image of her hunched over like the Hunch Back of Notre Dame flashed in her mind, and she let out a laugh, a smiling starting to form on her lips as she forced her school day from out of her mind.

"Mom and Dad are in the study." Melody said with raised brows to Harmony's mischievous grin. The girl said not a word about what she was planning to do, but Melody could clearly see a plan forming before her eyes as she gave her twin a wink and ran off in the direction of their parents.

"....Duke de Kiln is right, then the lands north of---Ariel?" Eric couldn't help but smile an amused grin as he saw his wife had nodded on his shoulder, her red hair spilling across her face. With a certain gentleness, he shook her, just a little, causing her to wake up suddenly, her head pulling off his shoulder as she sat up.

"I'm awake." Ariel said quickly, blinking rapidly to get off all of the sleepiness from her eyes. Her eyes met her husbands, and abashed, she looked down at her lap, with tinged pink cheeks.

"The sleeping Queen...well, I guess it's better than 'The mute maiden'." Eric teased, as Ariel looked up at him and smiled, shaking her head at his silliness. Her mouth opened as if to tease him back, but instead of words, came a phlegm filled cough, to which she immediately covered with her hand.

Eric's amusement vanished as worry took its place. Brushing his fingers across her cheek, he felt the immediate heat that was radiating off of her. "Why didn't you tell me you weren't feeling well?" His soft voice inquired, as Ariel looked up and shook her head again, this time not out of amusement but out of dismissal.

"I feel fine Eric. It's just a little cold; by tomorrow I'll wake up feeling 100%. Besides, you know I always get a little sick during winter." Ariel's immediate dismissal of the subject was to break of her husband's alarm for her, as he always had when she even sniffled.

"I know it's useless because you're too stubborn, but I have to try." Eric said more to himself than to his love, who perked up a brow at his words. "Will you go back to bed and rest?" Eric asked in a pleading tone, concern for Ariel's health the most important thing right now.

Ariel never did get to answer, because it was that moment that another red head broke through the doors that lead to the study. The speed she was running at was amazing, but the terrified look on her face made both her parents quickly get out of her way as they knew what was going to happen.

"That was _so_ not planned." Harmony muttered, after slamming into the study desk, and then crashing into the wall that followed it. Rubbing the spot on her forehead where it smarted a bit, she turned around to see her well amused, delighted, but worried parents as they came up next to her.

"Are you alright honey?" Ariel asked anxiously, leaning down to push the girl's bangs out of her face and to inspect the already starting to form black and blue mark where she'd just hit her head. When the girl's bright blue eyes nodded along with her head, both parents let out a sigh of relief before hugging her tightly.

"We haven't seen you all week! I thought we said that we had to see you at least once a week Harmony!" Eric's reprimand rang out, as Harmony just shrugged, plopping down on the couch and letting her legs take up the rest of the space. She hadn't bothered to change out of her faded jeans and dark blue hand-me-down coat.

"I had a lot of homework...it's hard trying to make up all the work I missed." Harmony said idly, as her parents softened at her words. Ariel sat at the end of the couch, pushing her daughter's feet off with a warning glance at the girl, who by now knew that her muddy shoes weren't welcome on furniture.

"You could always be tutored....." Ariel let the thought trail off as her daughter looked up with a grimace, so Ariel hurried on. "At school, I mean. Can't your brother or one of his friends help you?" Harmony snorted at how naïve her mother was being, as she saw Melody finally slip into the room.

"My brother barely lets me ride in his car, so that's a no to that possibility. And his friends are all mindless jerks who follow his every command. Idiot." Harmony's icy voice said, and her sister laughed lightly in the corner, getting her parents attention.

"Are you sure you're not describing yourself?" Melody wondered in a light tone, trying to ease her sister's worries. School was never a fun thing to talk about, unless if it was something funny about what had happened that day. Though, Melody wouldn't really know because she'd been tutored since she was young.

"No, if I was describing me I would have added 'psychotic witch who cut's herself'." Harmony said in a light tone back, focusing on the conversation with her sister. But her words struck a chord in her and her family, though no one would freely admit it.

"Harmony...." Eric's voice started, but how he could finish that, he had no idea. He knew it was hard for the girl, juggling two lives, struggling in school, trying to control her new powers...and all the while trying to be a normal teenage girl.

"Whatever." Harmony quickly said, getting up from the couch. "I'll be in the library, alright?" She didn't wait for a response as she walked out of the study, and into the library to escape her life right now, if only for a little bit.


	3. Chapter 3

"What book is that?" Ariel's soft voice inquired, as Harmony didn't look up at her mother. The girl hadn't even heard her because she was so wrapped up in her story. Her glasses were on the couch armrest next to her, as she was curled up with her story, a terrified expression on her face as she kept reading on.

"Harmony?" Ariel tried again, unsuccessfully to get her daughter out of her story, which had apparently taken her interest. It was amazing how the girl could be the cockiest teen one hour, and the next she was curled up with a book by the fire. "Harmony, sweetheart...can you put the book down so we can talk?" Ariel asked in a gentle tone, sitting next her young teenager. The girl, startled, looked up in surprise. Shrugging in the end, she put her book down on her lap, a mystified look on her face as her eyes practically said 'go on'.

"Harmony....i know your still dealing with the fact that you're actually a witch...but just know that your family is right behind you. Both of them, actually." Ariel said with a tiny smile, though Harmony didn't return it. Her gaze fell to her hands which were fiddling with each other on her lap as started to talk.

"Not both of them." Harmony said in a slow, soft voice, startling her mother. "My other...._parents, _are still awkward about....everything...with me. I feel like I'm a stranger at home." Harmony said in a clear, soft voice, and her mother instinctively wrapped her arms around her child and hugged her.

"They'll get used to the idea soon enough. If they loved you for thirteen years, than I see no reason why they wouldn't still love you for who you are on the inside." Ariel's comforting words did little to raise Harmony's spirits, as the girl sighed heavily. But wanting to return to her fairy tale word of pleasure and dreams, she managed a small fake smile to her mom.

"Yeah, I guess. Thanks." Harmony said, and Ariel nodded in approval, hoping her words had gotten through to the teen. The girl's eyes traveled to her book longingly, and Ariel laughed lightly at that.

"Go, read already." Ariel said with a gentle laugh, standing up."I should go see what your father is up to anyhow." The mother said with a conspirital wink to her daughter, who made her fake laugh sound realistic.

As Harmony picked up the book again, she couldn't shake off this feeling of some...omnipresent thing that was going to happen soon. Shaking her red head, she blamed her paranoid feelings on too much stress from school, and all those horror movies she'd watched. It's nothing she convinced herself, just a bit scared about that note....oh god the note! Just thinking of it made Harmony's heart swell up in guilt for not taking it home...but she didn't want to ruin her weekend.

Her grades had actually started to pick up a little; she'd brought most of them to C's and high D's by now. Though her history grade still remained at a C-, on the verge of turning into a D. It wasn't her fault that history was so boring though! With Ms. Ander-bitch-son droning on and on and on about some old famous dead guy that no one cared about, it was hard not to zone out from time to time.

Besides, History was a stupid subject anyway. At the end of every chapter, the same thing happened over and over and over again. Everyone is either dead, or died doing something stupid like....well, she couldn't think of anything historically stupid right now, but she'd find that out sooner or later, most likely from Google. Giggling at her own thoughts, Harmony thought of her homework for a moment, thinking back in her mind to see if she'd packed all the books she'd needed for her weekend. Then her conversation with her best friend flashed into her mind.

For a brief moment, she wondered if she'd been too hard on Emma these past few weeks, not telling the girl anything about her life, or what had really happened. Maybe she should tell her....it'd be nice to have someone who wasn't family that she could talk to about this. But then....what if Emma thought she was crazy? What if it ruined their friendship? No, she wouldn't take that risk with her best friend right now.

Brushing her fingers through the red vibrancy that was her hair, she didn't feel like thinking about any of this anymore, so she turned back to her world of dragons and mystical people...though she couldn't quite shake off that omnipresent feeling, no matter how hard she tried.

* * *

**Omnipresent? Is she just being a paranoid teen....or is someting lurking beneath the surface of her life? And Ariel, she's sick. Will she possibly die and be the tradjedy?! Or will the tradjedy be that Harmony's grades slip and she goes back down to F?! Oh crap! How will you ever find out?!**

**Well, you could start by pressing this button on the bottom of your screen called Review. That's the first step. The second, tell me what you thought of these chapters, and the third, you could give me some constructive cristiscm, or praise. Whichever you feel like giving, i'm alright with because they both help my writing. **

**Alright? Okay? Do you comprende?! **

**Ta ta for now, **

**The eavisive, and cruel one and only....*cue trumpets***

**CONVERSE R LIFE!**


	4. Chapter 4

"Ariel, you look as though you're going to pass out. Go to bed and rest for awhile, you need it." Eric's gentle command rang out, as Ariel forcefully brought her head up and shook it hard. Eric sighed, as his hand ran through her hair, and she let out another awful sounding cough.

"I'm fine Eric. I just have a little cold, that's all." Ariel said, though she knew her husband could see straight through her lie. She'd been feeling pretty bad for the past couple of days, and her little cold had developed into a probably high fever she knew. But she couldn't just go and stay in bed all day because she was sick, no; she had a kingdom to help run with her husband.

Before Eric could plead with her again to go and rest, the study door suddenly opened...and in the doorway stood a groggy teenager.

"'Morning." Harmony said, rubbing at her eyes which were drooping from exhaustion. Wearing her nightgown still, she leaned against the door frame, yawning as she tried to blink out the sleepiness from her eyes.

"Well, looks like sleeping beauty finally woke up." Ariel teased, standing up with effort and kissing her daughter's forehead with warmth. The girl only smiled wanly at the joke, as her father grinned at her bed head. She'd brushed her teeth and washed her face already....but she really didn't see the need to hurt herself by brushing through all the knots in her hair.

"I think you should be saying ''afternoon'. It's already three." Eric pointed out, as Harmony's blue eyes looked over at the grandfather clock. Sure enough, it was exactly three, and Harmony's smile turned into a small grin at that.

"Why are you waking up so late?" Ariel wondered, as Harmony looked up and shrugged. "Did you go to sleep late last night?" It was a disapproving tone instead of wonder now, as Harmony shrugged again.

"Not really. I passed out at midnight so..." Harmony gave another shrug as both her parents exchanged worried glances at her going to sleep at midnight. Before they could say anything though, she looked down at her nightgown and sighed. She should've changed already...then again, she was lazy, and changing into a normal clothes took effort. Still, she had to if she wanted to go to the beach.

"I'm going to go to the beach after I change, 'k?" It wasn't really a question to her parents, because she knew that she'd be allowed to go to the beach as long as she stayed close to the castle. They'd been paranoid about her getting hurt since she'd gotten into that fight with Alec and his goons. Without a word, she silently slipped away from her parents, and went to her dressing room to get changed.

Finally, when she had put on a pair of jeans and had her cloak wrapped around her, she went to the beach, with her sketch pad of course. She must have looked strange, walking around in a cloak and a pair of jeans instead of a dress....but jeans were more comfortable than those poofy monsters that her mother insisted she wear.

Taking out her pencil, she tried to just let her hand move across the page so she could sketch...but she found that she was too high strung right now to sketch. Maybe a little bit later, she thought to herself, deciding to go for a walk along the shore line. That usually calmed her down.

Tucking her precious sketchpad underneath her arm, she slipped her pencil into her jeans pocket and started to walk. The wind was fierce, biting at her face or any other bare skin that it could find. Shivering, barely even thinking, she snapped her fingers and in a second there was a small fire held above her hand, warming up her body. Ah, much better.

Walking along the shore usually gave her time to think...sort things out...but not this time. Everything was too jumbled up in her mind, things mixing in with each other and not making any sense. Sighing, she put her sketch book on a rock that was pretty high off the sand and water, and leaned over to touch the water.

The waves sped up at her touch, as she let the magic she'd been holding inside of her pour out and into the water. The waves grew more fierce and worse by the second, as the wind around her started to pick up, a small storm starting. Realizing this, she quickly pulled her hand out of the water, and in seconds everything was calm again But when she pulled her hand out of the water she had caught something.

Her reflection.


	5. Chapter 5

"_Look at me  
You may think you see  
Who I really am  
But you'll never know me_

None of those nobles knew who she really was, underneath it all.

_Every day  
It's as if I play a part_

At school she played the quiet geeky girl. At court she played the cocky strange girl.

_Now I see  
If I wear a mask  
I can fool the world  
But I cannot fool my heart_

She could fool both worlds into thinking she was two different girls...but not her heart.

_Who is that girl I see  
Staring straight back at me?  
When will my reflection show  
Who I am inside?_

Why couldn't she answer the most basic question about herself?

_I am now  
Caught between two worlds  
Who hold my heart  
And what I believe in_

She loved both her worlds...but this plan wasn't working.

_But somehow  
I will show my worlds  
What's inside my heart  
And be loved for who I really am_

She had to find a way to show them, she just had to.

_Who is that girl I see  
Staring straight back at me?  
Why is my reflection  
Someone I don't know?_

That girl in the water wasn't who she was....but then if that wasn't her..._who _was she?

_Must I pretend that I'm  
Someone else for all time?  
When will my reflection show  
Who I am inside?_

If she continued to live in both worlds, would she always be wearing a different mask, for her different worlds?

_There's a heart that must be  
Free to fly  
That burns with a need to know  
The reason why_

Free to show, in her own way, and own time, who she really was....but she couldn't.

_Why do I conceal  
What I'm like, what makes me __**me**__?  
Must I be so scared to show the secret me  
I hide?_

Fear was an emotion like no other because fear comes in....and never leaves.

_Will I have to pretend that I'm  
Someone else for all time_

Would she always be two different people to her two different families?

_When will my reflection show  
Who I am inside?  
When will my reflection show  
Who I am inside?_

Who am I? A princess....or a normal girl?"

* * *

***yawn* i'm tired. ****I had to turn my computer off and on, which takes like ten minutes to get back on the internet to be grateful, because i'm grumpy right now. Well, in a way, not really, but still. So, is it just me, or when you press the review button to see all of the reviews of 'Sketching Arpeggio's' it says there are none, even though i know that's not true? Tell me if it's also happening to you guys, because it's bugging me. I had to go all the way to my email to read your reviews (my email had 567 unread messages in it...a new record!) but it was worth it because your reveiws were awesome! Thanks alot! Originally, i wasn't going to post any chapters tonight...but, well, after reading your reviews i felt so happy i did, so give yourselves pat's on the back! Review more, because i like reading them, they make me happy :P! okay, now i'm going to sleep before my parents catch me up this late still on the computer! (Though i do have a good excuse for being up so late--posting this chapter, and it's summer vacation, so it's not like i have school to go to tomorrow!) **

**bye and reveiw!**


	6. Chapter 6

"You're neither Harmony. Your just....you." A soft voice behind the girl said, as Harmony didn't even turn around, knowing who this was. Great, another heart to heart talk with her mother. The fun never stops, does it?

"Eavesdropping is usually considered rude." Harmony answered, staring out at the water, and brushing her fingers across the surface. The water stirred under her touch, a tiny whirlpool forming as she took her fingers out.

"Not when it involves a worried mother. Honey, if there's something you want to talk about....." Ariel let the sentence trail off; as she shivered in her thin dress meant for wear only in a warm palace. If Eric found her out here he'd drag her back inside and place her under room arrest, no doubt about it.

"No. I'm fine." Harmony's answer was curt, as she still made no eye contact with her mother, whom she saw from the corner of her eye was shivering. Whatever, it was her own fault that she'd come out here.

"Then go back inside. I think a storm is coming....I don't want you caught in the middle of it." Ariel mentally added that she didn't want to catch herself in the middle of a snow storm either. She was sick enough as it was.

"No. I want to stay out here a little bit longer." Harmony's answer was short, not letting any emotion into her voice. From the corner of her eye, she could see her mother reach out a hand as if to comfort her....but then change her mind and retract it with a sigh and shake of the head.

"Five minutes Harmony, or else I'll personally drag you back." Ariel said with another sigh, walking off in the direction of the palace. Her arms were wrapped around herself to try and shield the cold, though it was doing little good as she was still shivering immensely.

Then suddenly...she felt a warming sensation on her toes. The warmth spread to her entire body within seconds, and Ariel's brow furrowed for a moment as she let her arms drop. She was warm! But how....?

Looking over at her daughter a moment, she noticed how the girl was still staring out at the sea, not watching as her mother left. A small orange flame floated above the palm of one of her hands though, as her lips were forming words to soft for the mother to hear. Ariel's expression softened at that, realizing her daughter had been kind enough to warm her up in the cold weather, when she hadn't even asked.

"Thank you." Ariel's words were carried over to Harmony by the wind, and the girl gave a curt nod, acknowledging what her mother had said, but no more than that. She started to listen to the waves gently padding on the sand, but then grew impatient for no reason, and sighed angrily.

Looking up at the sky a moment, she realized that her mother had been right. A storm was brewing...and her anger was helping fuel it. Sighing a softer, calmer sigh, she started to walk towards the palace again.

* * *

**Okay, so last chapter i was too tired to say what the song was and the disclaimer so i'll do it now. The song was Reflection, from the movie Mulan, resung by Christina Aguilara. Check the video out on youtube, it's really nice. (Fyi, that's why there were extra lyrics at the end Percabethrox17!) **

**Alright, so Percabethrox17, your having locker issues? Yeah, i had the same problem MY sixth grade year. My locker was way to tall, and the person below me always yelled at me for reaching over her head to get my books. The solution: try to find an empty locker and move all your stuff into it, or go to the office and see if it's possible to switch your locker. Trust me, I didn't do that my sixth grade year and i spent a year in hell. But my seventh grade year i moved all my stuff into an empty locker, closer to my friends, and it was just so much better that i regretted not doing it in the sixth grade. Just some advice. **

**Hm, Harmony. How is it that she can be a total bitter and sad girl one moment, but the next silently help her mother? And what is this tradjedy?! Will it come up soon?! Is Ariel the one who won't recover from her fever?! Or will Melody somehow manage to die in a storm?! He he, now that i've placed all these annoying questions into your head, i'm going to sit back, and post very slowly, just to torture all of you! *evil laugh***

**Naw, jk. As soon as i finish writing a chapter the first thing i can't wait to do is post it up, so don't worry. :P Or am i just saying that? Hm, interesting....*cue scary music as I walk off imaginary stage***


	7. Chapter 7

"I'm bored." Melody said, for the hundredth time. "There's was nothing to do! Harmony your reading, Mom is sick in bed, Dad is looking after her....it's like no one cares about _**me**_!" Her whine followed, as she paced back and forth on the carpet. Harmony's eyes looked up from her book, brows raised high and eyes filled with fire at what her sister had just said.

"Feeling like no one cares about you is when your own sister calls you a slut in front of the new kingdom you were being introduced to. Feeling like no one cares about you is when your family locks you in a dungeon. Feeling like no one cares about you is when your own parents think you're a freak because you're a witch. Must I continue?" Harmony's steely voice said, though it was calm. Deadly calm. Melody stopped in her tracks and smiled apologetically at her sister, wincing at her words because she knew they were true.

"Sorry." She apologized, as Harmony's blue eyes still held a fire in them, but her head nodded in acknowledgement of her sister's apology. "I meant, that I'm bored because there's nothing to do." Melody quickly explained, but Harmony only still said nothing, as she watched her sister with now a thoughtful expression. Then a wicked smile spread to her lips, as she came up with an idea.

"Melody, have you ever played laser tag?" When Harmony got a baffled expression and a shake of the head from her sister, she knew this was the right game to play. All Harmony had to do was remember her old laser set from when she was a child, and in a second the big blue old worn box was on her lap.

Melody's orbs grew wide at the box that Harmony had on her lap, but she asked no questions, for fear of getting honest answers. Laser? What was that? And what on earth did it have to do with the game of tag? Melody shook her head, and sat on the floor with her sister, as the girl took out two....pistols? Immediately, when Harmony handed her the thing, she dropped it, staring at it in confusion.

"It can't hurt you whatsoever, unless I mean, you hit yourself with it." Harmony explained in a tone that mad Melody feel as though she was three and Harmony was so much older. "Here, put this on. Your red team, I'm blue." Harmony said, as she pushed over the red pads to Melody, who stared at them in confusion even more. Harmony gave an impatient sigh as she donned on her own blue pads, and then a look of understanding passed Melody's features as she did the same.

"How do we..._play_?" Melody asked carefully, not liking that mischievous smile on Harmony's lips. In all her life, she'd had plenty of dolls, toys, stuffed animals....but never in her life had she had a _laser_ tag game, or whatever it may be.

"It's easy. You have to shoot at my blue pads, and I have to shoot at yours. But, whenever I shoot at your pads, you lose a life, and you only have five lives, so try not to get shot. You know your shot when your pads light up, okay?" Harmony explained, anxious to get the game started already.

She'd never had to explain these types of games in her life, never. Then again, all her life she'd only played these games with her brother, and he'd been the one explaining how to play.

"Alright." Melody drawled out slowly, getting up to start this game.

It took a good ten minutes for Melody to finally get the hang of this game, but when she did, there was hell to pay to her sister. They would runaround the palace, shrieking as they were hit, and laughing as they ran. Of course, their game managed to get quite a few queer looks from the servants, but for once, neither girl cared. They both kept playing the game until they had fallen to the floor in a state of giggles, clutching their stomachs and wondering what on earth was so funny.

"This was a fun game." Melody finally managed to laugh out, wiping a tear away from her eye. The pistol was still clutched in her hand, her finger over the trigger like Harmony had taught her, but she'd long run out of 'ammo' as Harmony called it. A strange game, but a fun game.

"That's why I wanted to play it." Harmony said with a smile back at her sister, propping herself up on one arm. Moving her fingers through her hair, she was suddenly extremely aware of how _hungry_ she was. It must be close to dinner."Come on, I'm hungry. Let's go eat something." The pads and guns suddenly disappeared from Melody's body, though once again, she feared if she asked questions she'd get actual honesty. Sometimes it was better not to know some things.

"I'm hungry too." Melody admitted, as her sister stuck out a hand to help her up. The girl's walked in comfortable silence to the dining room, each wrapped up in their own thoughts. Of course, their father was already there, waiting for them....but something about him seemed a little..._off_.

"What happened?" Harmony wasn't one to dance around subjects, Eric knew. He also knew that he had to tell his girls sometime...though it's not that he wanted to. He was tired from looking after Ariel, whom he'd managed to convince to get some rest. He was tired from the doctor coming in to see her, because she was so _sick_! Sighing, he looked at both his daughter a moment, before letting out a tiny humorless smile.

"Your mother has pneumonia."

* * *

**Wow, what an ending! First it's all fun and games, and then the bombshell! wow! Well, i can claim i own something else in this fanfiction. That laser tag box, the pads, and the guns? Yeah, those were actually me and my brother's growing up. We'd put them on and run around the house, shooting each other with them. So, you have to ask me if you want to use my laser tag in your fanfics. Just kidding! I could care less if you used my laser tag or not, really, i could. I have better things to do than to be mad over something that's happening online. Like, be mad at something that's happening in my backyard! **

**Can you believe this? For seven years i've been growing a little mango tree in my backyard. It soon turned into a big mango tree, and this year it finally sprouted mangoes, and i was really excited because i wanted to eat a mango from the tree. I go outside to pick them, and guess what? SOMEONE STOLE ALL OF MY MANGOES! Grr. They shall pay. **

**Other than that, review, and if your the mango theif and your reading this, i hate you alot right now. Just know that. **


	8. Chapter 8

"Ohmygod!" Melody's voice was the first to gasp, as her sister rolled her blue eyes, sitting down in her own chair and idly drumming her fingers against the table, as though nothing had happened.

"Oh please, you make it sound like she's going to die." Harmony's annoyed voice rang out, as four eyes stared at her in shock at what she had just said. Harmony looked up, and raised her brows in question at those four eyes staring at her.

"Harmony, she's really, really sick! It's a _strong_ possibility that she can die! How could you be so...." Eric didn't finish his sentence because he didn't know what to say. She wasn't being _mean_, but then again, she wasn't being very nice either.

"Harmony you're just awful!" Melody's voice rang out, as she crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes at her sister, who only casually looked up at both her father and twin, and gave a small amused smile.

"What I meant by that is, _**I'm a witch**_. Dimwits." Harmony muttered 'dimwits' under her breathe, as she saw her father and sister finally sit down, but look at her with question in their eyes. God, did she have to spell it out for them? "There _are_ healing spells you know." She said with a roll of her eyes as her sister and father finally got what she was saying.

"You mean, you can cure her?!" Eric asked, more anxious than anything at Harmony's words. The girl gave another roll of her eyes, but nodded all the same as her father shot her a grateful smile, and a relieved sigh escaped from his lips.

"I'll do it after dinner." Harmony said with a careless shrug, though on the inside she was beaming with pride that her father and sister were supporting her powers, since they could finally understand that her powers didn't _always_ destroy...sometimes they healed.

Dinner ended with her father in better spirits, and her sister excited to see her twin use her powers....though Harmony was more nervous. She didn't want to hurt her mother, no matter how many times the woman had hurt her. No, don't think of that, her mind instantly told her, trying to push out those thoughts from her mind. Still, they lingered in the back, whispering to her that 'forgive and forget' wasn't the same as 'grudge and revenge' and that it didn't leave that satisfied taste in her mouth.

Opening the door to her parents' bedroom, her breath caught in her throat at how..._big_ it was. It made her room back in Nebraska look like a closet compared to this! She'd never been in her parents' bedroom here...it always just felt a bit too awkward to know that this was the place she was conceived. Though, Melody seemed to have no hesitation as she sat on her parents' bed, at the end of her mother's feet, while her father placed a cool cloth on her forehead.

Somehow managing to making her feet move, she stood near the bed, but it felt too awkward to actually sit on it. Her father looked up at her with a clearly amused look at her hesitance and awkwardness, but decided not to comment on it. After being lost to another set of parents for as long as the girl could remember, it was hard not to see why she wouldn't feel awkward.

"Okay, so...." Harmony's cheeks were already red as it was when she saw both her father and sister look up in amusement to her awkwardness. She pulled her spell book up to cover her face, not caring if that looked really weird or not.

"The spell says that she'll fall into a coma like sleep, for....anywhere between eight through twenty-four hours....and that waking her up will....let's just say it won't be good to wake her up, okay?" Harmony said, with the book still over her face. Before her sister or father could say anything, or possibly object to the idea, she started reading off the words from the book in a soft tone. Her eyes were closed the entire time, so she really didn't see what was happening, though she could feel the wind increasing in the room.

When she finally finished the words to the spell, she opened her eyes and fell to the floor on her knees, ready to pass out. Spells like these took a lot of energy to control and make sure she didn't hurt anyone. But the world was spinning around her now, she could hardly see anymore. Vaguely, she heard her name being called, and arms propping her up...but she wasn't paying attention anymore.

She passed out completely.


	9. Chapter 9

"Hm?" Harmony groaned as her head lolled to the side of her pillow. Trying to open her eyes, she winced at the harsh sunlight spilling from her closed curtains. God, her head was pounding! Groggily sitting up, she put her hand to her forehead to try and stop the pounding. "God, what did I _drink_?!" Harmony muttered to herself, as a laugh came from close to her.

"Water." A voice laughed good naturedly beside her, as Harmony finally looked up to see....her mother?! But...last she saw her mother she'd been sick!  
"Mom?" Harmony's voice wondered, as her mother spread out her hands before her, and gave her daughter and amused smile.

"The one and only." Ariel said with a bright smile, that caused Harmony to groan. God, smiling like that so early was like...wait, _was_ it early? How long has she been asleep? What had happened? If she only drank water....was it watered down beer?

"What happened, and why do I have a hangover?" Harmony asked, rubbing her eyes awake to see her mother smile, as she tucked a strand of the girl's red hair behind her ear.

"From what your father and sister tell me....I was _**very**_ sick...and you used a healing spell to get me better. Thank you for that. Though, the spell must have taken a lot of your energy because right after you just...passed out. You didn't touch a drop of alcohol, not that your father or I would even consider letting you, which means you don't _have_ a hangover." Ariel summarized, and then puckered her lips as her brow furrowed and eyes narrowed in suspicion. "I do wonder though, how you know what one feels like." Ariel bit back a smile as Harmony's eyes grew wide and panicked at the thought of her mother finding out she'd gone to a keg party....and had a bit too much beer.

"What time is it?" Harmony asked, quickly switching subjects as her mother's brows went up at the sudden change of discussion, but decided to let it drop. She'd been a teenager once, and when someone told you not to do something...well, it was just a bit too tempting to do it anyway.

"About one. You've been asleep all day." Ariel said with a smile before continuing on. "Get dressed and go to the study with your sister, alright? You, have homework to do, and so does she." Ariel said with a sugary sweet smile, as Harmony gave another groan at that. But she really did have to do her homework....at least so she could show her teachers she was making and actual effort in her studies.

"Yeah yeah." Harmony muttered under her breath, as Ariel's laugh could be heard as she exited her daughter's room. Harmony flopped back to her pillows, and closed her eyes....but it was too late. She was awake already, and now it was impossible to get back to sleep. With a groan, she managed to drag herself out of bed to get dressed and go downstairs to the study.

"Their taking you hostage too, huh?" Melody said, as she looked up at her sister, who was literally dragging her book bag behind her. The girl nodded sadly, as she tossed her book bag onto the couch.

"Well, since I'll be copying my homework from my friends, I'm ditching this place." Harmony said as she turned on her heel to leave....only to find her parents both in front of the door, amusement clear on their faces.

"Sit back down Harmony. You're not going anywhere." Ariel chirped, as Harmony shot her a sour look, but went back to the couch, knowing that arguing was futile. Her parents were keeping her hostage. Great. She saves one of their lives, yeah thanks; but she still has to do homework.

"You can't force me to do my homework." Harmony said to her parents, as both looked at each other with amusement still.

"True. But we can ground you." Eric said with a grin, as Harmony's eyes narrowed. Okay, true they could ground her. But she had a better weapon.

"I can never come again." Harmony shot back, as Eric's brow furrowed, though Melody only snorted as she barely looked up from her own homework; like that'll ever happen.

"I can use the Triton and drag you back." Ariel finished up with a winning smile to her daughter, as the girl's brow furrowed. Her mouth opened with another smart reply...but nothing came out. Damn, she was right. Now she was trapped.

"Fine. I surrender, you win. I'll do my homework." Admitting defeat wasn't so terrible for Harmony, considering that most of the time she was admitting defeat she was just looking for a way to quit what she was doing.

"Good. But just to make sure, I think we'll stay in here until you finish." Eric said with a wink to Ariel, as she giggled. Eric had that effect on her; the smallest things about him made her laugh.

It was nearly 7:00 before Harmony finished all her homework. It might have took Harmony six straight hours to do every math problem, ever English chapter summary of her school book, and every question about the Egyptians, but in the end she felt proud that she'd done them all. Though, her eyes were worn out, and she just felt like curling up on the couch in the study to sleep.

"I finished." Harmony said, to mostly keep herself awake, and to let her family know that she'd done all her homework. There was no answer. Looking up, Harmony's brow furrowed as she stared at an empty, save for her, room. They all....abandoned her...again. Her eyes immediately started to tear up at the thought of it, as a single sob ripped from her chest. She didn't like being alone...she now feared loneliness from everything she'd been through. It just...hurt...so bad....

Pushing up the sleeve of her long sleeve shirt, she didn't even know when scissors appeared in her hand, but she didn't care as she flipped the blade so that it was on the sharp side. The blade was almost on her arm now, just a little closer to her skin and she'd feel so much better. She'd feel the pain of two months disappear in just one cut. The blade was only a millimeter from her arm when....nothing.

She didn't feel her skin break, she didn't feel blood come out...she felt nothing. That's when she realized there was a hand on her wrist, holding it in the air, away from her arm. Angrily, she looked up at the person who would stop her and she saw....

Her mother?


	10. Chapter 10

"Please. Don't." Ariel said in a tightly controlled voice, taking the scissors from her daughter's hand and placing it away from the girl. Biting her lip, Ariel eyes were filled with pleading for her daughter not to even think about touching them....or conjuring up some more.

"I thought everyone....abandoned me." Harmony's slightly awed voice said, as Ariel shut her eyes tightly for a moment, wincing at that unintentional jab at her awful parenting, before sitting next to the girl with sad eyes.

"We thought you left _hours_ ago...when you didn't show up to dinner...we were worried...I just wanted to check if you left your bag here...honey, have you been doing homework this entire time? For six hours?" Ariel asked in a soft, gentle tone as Harmony nodded, her face drawn.

Ariel let out a heavy sigh, as she wrapped an arm around her daughter, hugging her tightly against her. "Sweetheart...it's not that I don't want you to have a normal life at school and be happy...but six hours is just _insane_! You're not understand the material if you take six hours to do it...and I don't want you missing out because you're stuck inside, studying. I think...you should be tutored instead of going to school." Ariel finally said, a bit of sadness, shock, and fear of her daughter's reaction in her tone.

"I thought you all left....again. Don't leave me alone....please....it hurts when I'm alone. It makes me remember....I don't like remembering Mom. Remembering hurts me. Please." Harmony whispered, as she had tears running down her face.

She wasn't going to talk about school...she was going to avoid that issue for as long as she could...she knew her mother was right. It was stupid to go to school and not understand a single word. But...she didn't want to leave. School was the last thing that made her feel normal, like another dorky girl. She couldn't leave that behind, no, she wouldn't.

"I'm so sorry." Ariel whispered, hugging her daughter tightly, knowing that she wouldn't be able to soon. Soon the girl would be back with her adopted parents...soon Ariel would only the 'other' mother, the one who'd been cruel, and not understanding whatsoever. But for now, she was _**the**_ mother. And she was going to try and fix all of what she'd done.

"I-I've got to go. My parents...it's late...." Harmony said, wiping a tear away with the back of her palm, almost as if she was sensing Ariel's thoughts. Ariel sighed heavily, but she'd known this was coming. Still, why did it have to hurt so much every time?

"I understand." Ariel said, with what she hoped was a realistic smile. She didn't want to let her daughter go. She wanted to hold her, tell her it'd all been a dream, show her that none of that had ever existed and she was just a normal teenage girl who's biggest problem is being a princess, like Melody. Twelve years she'd had no idea if her daughter was living, or dead. Twelve years she wished for the girl to come home, twelve years....and then finally the girl comes home, and Ariel manages to screw up her entire life, scarring her in more ways than her arm.

"Bye." Harmony said with a sniffle, grabbing her bag quickly off the couch and standing up. She wanted to get back to her unchanging home, she wanted it all to be a dream. She wanted to wake up to the sound of her alarm clock, and wanted to groan because she knew school awaited.

"Bye." Ariel whispered, though by the time she said her farewell, the girl was gone. She'd be back tomorrow after school Ariel knew, because there was the Valentine's Day ball that would hopefully re-introduce her into society without a problem, after six months of hell.

Hell that she could have stopped when it was early, hell the she could have stopped adding too. Hell that had made her abandon her daughter in a jail cell. While the girl had cried herself to sleep, and slept on the cold stone floor without anything but the thin nightgown she was wearing, Ariel had cried herself to sleep on a comfortable mattress, heaped with warm blankets, and a warm husband who'd held her when she cried. Hell that made her think that her daughter was a freak. And the worst part was, that even though the girl had rid her of her pneumonia, and the very real possibility of dying....

She still thought her daughter was a freak.

* * *

**Review! I'm going away tomorrow to jacksonville (about 10 hours away from Miami) to see my cousins before school starts again. Which means, i can beg to bring my laptop along and post chapters up this weekend, OR i could just leave it at home and not worry about my story. **

**So to summarize: Review and i'll post chapters up this weekened. Don't and i won't post up any chapters this weekened. Though, you might want to review, because in the next chapters i was going to post you would find: **

** ball to re-introduce Harmony to society things might seem as though their getting back to normal, but will memories of her first ball get in the way of 'normal' ? **

**2. Something is going to happen to Harmony's adopted parents that will change her life forever.**

**3. One of the worst things you can ever imagine will happen right before her eyes. **

**Review and i can post up all of that this weekend. Don't and i'll make you wait another three days. FYI this time, i'm not bluffing. I really will do it. :) **

**Ta ta for now,**

**The evil, manipulative, strange, ecentric, one of a kind, **

**FOGHORN LEGHORN (sorry, that was the answer to one of the bonus question on my history test last year, and i can't seem to get that name out of my head!)**

**Anyway if you'll excuse the outburst,**

**CONVERSE R LIFE!**


	11. Chapter 11

"I'm back." Harmony called out, as she padded down the stair of her home. She was greeted by the sound of dishes clashing against one another, and her brother's voice talking to her mom, as though she hadn't been heard. Maybe they didn't hear me, Harmony thought to herself, as she entered the kitchen.

"...getting a divo---oh! Kathy." Her mother's shocked voice said, as she literally Dropped the plate she'd been drying. Harmony gave her mom a weird look, before stepping over broken fragments of the plate, and opening up the freezer.

"Hi to you too." Harmony said with a little laugh, before poking her head further in the freezer. Frowning, she turned back to face her mom, who was already starting to pick up the plate. "Um Mom? Where's my popsicles?" Harmony wondered, her frown deepening as she turned back to the freezer once more but couldn't find the box of popsicles.

"Those were _your_ popsicles? Oh well. I ate them." Ryan said with a smirk, as Harmony turned to face him with anger started to come onto her pretty features.

"You always know I get popsicles!" She said in a whiney voice, anger heating up on the back of her neck. Her brother said nothing, just looked from her, to her mother, and then back at her before shrugging.

"Sorry. I was hungry." He said, as Harmony's mouth opened in a reply...but none came out. Sorry? Since when did he ever say _sorry_? Usually he would just brush her off...but say _sorry_? He was acting weird.

"Yeah well." Harmony grumbled, before brightening up at an idea. Snapping her fingers, a Popsicle appeared in them, as she grinned in delight. Sucking on the grape flavored ice cream, her mother and brother stared at her in shock for a few moments, as she frowned.

"What did I do?" She wondered, licking the ice cream as her brother stared at the thing in her fingers, before shrugging it off. It was better not to ask questions sometimes. "Um Mom? Where's Dad? Is he working late again?" Harmony's voice wondered, as her mother seemed to snap out of her shocked state and look at the girl very carefully.

"Katherine--er _Harmony_--about your father--um I mean, _Austin_--he's at a hotel, for the night. He'll be back by tomorrow night to pick up his things." Janice said, looking at her daughter with grey eyes that told the story of weary and hardship.

All her youth, she'd wished to have the perfect family. A loving devoted husband, who takes time out of his work schedule to specifically see his wife, and dote on his children. She had always wanted to be a stay at home mother, like those that worked at their children's schools, or wore jogging suits everywhere during the week, though they actually would not run a foot if it came down to it. She'd wanted children who were well behaved, and whose problems were no bigger than a simple crush at school. Yes, that was the life she'd always dreamed of as a child. But it's not what she'd gotten.

"So what was the fight about?" Harmony asked, without a second thought. Lately after watching her _real _parents together, she'd noticed more and more fights between her adopted parents. It was just normal to her now to come home and find a parent gone, to a hotel in the city for the night. Shaking that thought off, she bit off the top of her Popsicle, making sure not to bite with her two front teeth; else she'd get a brain freeze.

"It wasn't a fight exactly this time...." Janice said, fiddling with a loose string on the end of her shirt. From what her daughter had told her about her real family, her real parents had a type of love that she envied. Katherine--er, _Harmony_--would say that she'd never seen her real parents fight, and that every moment of their lives was filled with thoughts of one another. Her daughter had never known that type of love existed before she'd seen her real parents; she'd continued to say, and with an aching heart Janice had realized that the girl was right.

"What do you mean? Is he like, on a business trip or something?" Harmony asked, pulling and apple from the fridge and biting into it. Apple. Probably one of the only fruits she could stand to eat. She wondered for a brief moment if she should be more serious about what her mother was saying, but then shrugged it off as she took another bite of the fruit, savoring the sweetness.

"Actually....we're getting a divorce."


	12. Chapter 12

There was a silence in the room before Harmony's apple fell from her hand, dropping onto the floor with a bite mark on it, just like Snow White. But this was in no way Snow White's fairy tale. For the one part; she wasn't dead. Yet.

"NO!" She heard her voice scream, not shout, no, scream out in protest. Anger boiled up inside of her, they couldn't be doing this to her! Not now! Not after everything she'd been through, they couldn't!! As her anger grew, so did the heat of the room, as flames licked the entire kitchen as a circle just containing her, her brother and her mother were the only ones not being attacked by fire..

"Katherine stop it, calm down." Janice pleaded; panic filling her features as she realized that she should have done this in a crowded room full of people, that way the girl wouldn't make a scene. But she hadn't, and now her kitchen was paying for it. Things were melting, heat was intensifying....and the one that was doing it all was a fifteen--well, fifteen in this world at least, though she claimed to still be only fourteen because of her real birthday--year old girl.

"The hell I'm not calming down!" Harmony screamed again. She didn't pay attention to the fire, no, the only thing she saw was her mother standing before her. The woman looked fearful of what was happening, looking desperately for escapes to get out of what her daughter could do.

"Kat." It was a single word that made Harmony turn her face from her mother to her brother, who was somehow keeping calm in all of this. "Stop the fire, put the kitchen back as it was, and then go cool off a little." Amazing how calm Ryan could be when death was literally only a step away. But he knew his sister, and he knew she wouldn't hurt him or her mother in any way. That was one of the things he loved about her.

"Okay." Harmony said in a small voice, as suddenly the fire around them disappeared, and the kitchen looked as though it'd never just been melted. She knew her mother was staring at her in bewilderment, but all she was looking at right now was her brother. She held his intense gaze for a moment, neither saying a word, but a conversation passing between them. With a slight, nod from him, Harmony took in a deep breath and quietly walked back upstairs, calmly.

She must have spent hours in her room just because it turned from dusk to pitch black nightfall, and then to dawn finally, with her not even sleeping a wink as she just stayed up thinking. In her mind, she was....confused? Unsettled? Mad? Sad? Happy? She didn't know what she felt at this news, but she knew that it wasn't a good feeling. She supposed that it would be better for her parents to separate for good, because it would finally put an end to their fighting. But at the same time she wanted desperately to hold onto the childhood dream of her parents together forever. Emma's parents were divorced, and _she_ was alright, her mind pointed out to her....but it did little to ease her pain.

Harmony passed the school day in a blur, still trying hard to grasp onto the idea of her parents totally breaking off from one another. She didn't understand why they would do this, and yet at the same time she did understand why. It was strange to feel this way, to say the least. She should have known this was coming; by the way the fights had been increasing over the past years. She knew for sure her brother had known for years, that had been obvious to her, though he didn't brag about it in her face, or even talk to her about it. He just started his car and drove to school, and then started his car again to go back home.

Just as Harmony was reaching the last step on the top of the stairs, she turned around quickly, surprising her brother as she stiffened in shock and gave her a questioning look.

"There's a ball tonight over...there. Since it's Valentine's Day and all. I won't be back 'till 11. Tell Mom....and Dad." Harmony said, as she turned back around and ran to her room, which was the second door in the narrow hallway.

"Valentine's Day...." Ryan said, more to himself as a whisper though. Of course, he'd been getting those silly little notes he got every year from girls in his locker, and during class...but just now, when Kathy had said it, it really hadn't donned on him. The most romantic holiday on the calendar....well, he might as well tell her tonight, since it was Valentine's and all. With a slow spreading grin on his face, he came to the resolution that he would tell her everything...tonight.

"Harmony!" Melody's voice squealed as her sister wearily dropped her book bag on the floor of her room and was swept into a giant hug, that like always, she didn't return. But this time she had a reason not to return it. She was so tired! And so hyped up at the same time....she needed a break soon or else she'd crack. Pushing her sister off of her, the girl's shoulder's sagged as she started to talk.

"Mel, can we do this later? I really need to get some sleep in...last night I barely got a wink." Harmony's soft voice said to her sister, whose eyes traveled over the form of her sister's body. Melody noticed that her sister had dark circles protruding from under her eyes. She knew that she should ask why the girl was so tired...but blamed it on nerves for the ball, and nodded a bit sadly, knowing why the girl would be apprehensive about this certain ball, because of what happened at the last one.

"Yeah, sure." Melody said, deflated as Harmony gave her a small smile, as her eyes darted to the door, a silent reminder to leave. Melody's shoulder's sagged, but she knew when to take a hint, as she walked out of her sister's room, and to find her parents, to tell them that their _other _daughter was here.

"Oh thank god." Harmony's voice whispered, as she saw Melody leave her room. She needed a smoke, now, so that she could at least calm down enough to talk to her parents. Grabbing the cigarette and it's lighter, she stuffed a few mints into her pocket before practically running onto her balcony.

Holding the cigarette in between her fingers, she kept it away from her; downwind so that no one would ever know that she'd ever been doing this. And when she took the first swig of her smoke she felt....so much calmer. Like all her battling emotions just...stopped suddenly, and she was better. Managing a small smile, she kept taking smoking breaths of the so called 'death stick', and finally she was down to just the bud. Frowning slightly at realizing she'd smoked an entire cigarette in less than five minutes, she shrugged before dropping the bud and squashing it with her converse to extinguish it for good before kicking it off her balcony. As she walked back inside her room, feeling so much better, she stuffed all the mints into her mouth and kicked off her converse to go to sleep. Because sleep could do the one thing that no cigarette would ever be able to do.

Sleep would stop this nightmare.

* * *

**You already know my ultimatum, but let me say it again. If you don't review, this weekend i won't post up any stories. If you do, i will. See, it's as easy as your ABC's....'cept none of you (well at least i HOPE none of you) are drooling toddlers who are hanging on every word Barney, or Elmo, or even that Big Bird dude is saying. Or is it, yellow bird?**

**So, just out of curiousity, how many of you have ever tried to stuff your fist into your mouth? Yeah well i tried doing that an hour ago...i forgot i had my retainer on. My hand is now covered in barbie band-aid's (because we all know that band-aids with the cartoons on them are the best!) and my retainer is soaking in water, to try and get the blood taste out of it. **

**Alrighty, enough of my life story (which is mostly not that interesting anyway...unlesss...no, wait, it's not.), and onto the real story. Now that, was intense. I wonder what Ryan is going to do, since it's Valentine's Day....and Harmony's Ball will have to go off without a hitch...right? And tradjedy, what could that possibly mean? Is Melody going to screw up so bad that she finally goes to far? Or will King Triton die? How about Eric? Will his ship sink at storm....or will Ariel fall sick again, and Harmony will be to deep in a depression to save her life? Ah, now if you don't review, you won't get the answers. HA! Sucks to be you, doesn't it fool?! HA HA! **

**xJadeRainx thank you for your support on helping catch the mango theif with me. But i don't need you to help me catch him anymore, because i ate my first mango yesterday....EW! God, it's like pineapple (which i just tasted for the first time a week ago!) it's all slimly and sticky....ew ew ew ew! And not really my taste, though choco covered strawberries...mhm, those are good! Your mixing healthy, with junk food! What more could you want? **

**Well there's money, power, world domination...shutup voice in my head! **

**Well anyway, since i'll probably be committed to the mental hospital after anyone reads this, **

**Review and i post up stories, and thanks for the bribe xJadeRainx, really, i can't wait to read more of 'Ocean Heart'! For everyone that hasn't read it yet, read it cuz it's super good! Oh, and also read 'A Dance, a Song', that's also turning out to be very intresting! :) **


	13. Chapter 13

When Harmony woke up, the sun was already setting, casting a beautiful glow over the water. Taking a look at the grandfather clock in her room, she saw that it was already 6:30; or better yet, an hour and a half 'till the Valentine's Day ball.

Her mind immediately started working within itself, trying to figure out if she could squeeze in some time at the beach and still be ready for the ball at 8:00. Taking another peek at the windows, Harmony smiled, and nodded to herself. Getting up from her bed, she pulled back on her oversized sweatshirt, and went to the beach.

The salty sea air was the first thing that hit her when she went out onto the beach. The setting sun was already making way for cooler air of dusk that would precede it. But Harmony paid little attention to the air as she rolled up her jeans and kicked off her converse and socks, and waded in the freezing cold water.

The cold drove into her skin, making her cold on the inside as well as the outside. She should get out before anyone found her like this, her mind instinctively told her, though she knew that was just an excuse to leave the cold water.

She didn't want to leave the water though, because the cold took her mind off of her parents soon to be divorce. It gave her something else to think about, without actually cutting herself and leaving evidence of what she'd done.

If her mother knew that she was still cutting herself, it'd be the end of going between worlds for her. She'd be locked up in the palace with 24/7 supervision, and she knew she'd be checked daily to make sure she hadn't continued cutting. _For your own safety_, her mother had said, when she warned the girl about what she'd do to her if she continued to cut.

Sighing, Harmony looked up at the horizon, and a small, strained, and undeniably forced smile appeared on her lips as she tried to take her thoughts away from cutting, or her parents' divorce, or everything else that was wrong with her screwed up life. Sighing again at that, Harmony dove head into the freezing water, to cleanse her thoughts from pain.

When her head broke surface, she wasn't thinking of the pain on the inside of her any longer. No, she was thinking of the pain of her lungs, which felt as though they were being compressed so hard against the water. The cold was getting to her, she realized. If she went back down into the water, she'd drown to her death. Knowing that, Harmony stood in the now waist deep water, and managed to walk back to shore, with her bare feet and every other part of her aching from the cold.

She collapsed on the dry sand heavily, her lungs near bursting from pain. Where was her inhaler? Oh. It was in her room. Would she be able to sneak to her room, change, and then get back down here without her parents finding out? Probably, if she was sneaky enough, though there was the question of her laziness. She really didn't want to get up, now that she was on the sand. Besides, Harmony thought to herself musingly as her head dipped back and used the sand as it's pillow, her little attack was staring to slow down, she was going to be fine now. It had just been a shock to her system, all that cold water. Closing her eyes a moment, she listened to the sound of the sea gulls and the wave's crash on shore, taking in the beauty without her sight.

Unfortunately, her little moment was cut short by---who else---her mother.

"Harmony!" Ariel's relieved voice cut through the icy wind as her daughter scrambled to her feet, and looked up at her mother with huge electric blue eyes that she'd inherited from the woman. "Is it really so hard to leave a note telling us where you'll be? I was worried sick!" Ariel's relief was replaced by something much more useful in a time like this; anger.

"Sorry." Harmony muttered, looking at the ground as she shivered in her cold, wet clothes. "I just...needed to think." Well, at least that was mostly true...mostly being the key word there. Wrapping her arms around herself to keep from getting any colder, her actions made Ariel frown a moment....until she really looked at her daughter.

"Harmony! What on earth did you do?! The ball is in an hour, and you're filthy! Just look at you!" Ariel's shocked voice admonished, as Harmony tried to protest.

"I really don't look that bad." She protested as her mother sighed, shaking her head at the teenager. Really, an hour before the ball, and she looks like _this_?! Remind me not to see her before her wedding, Ariel thought to herself, laughing softly at that before turning her full attention back on the teenager.

It was half an hour later that Harmony was sitting in her vanity chair, well, more slouching than anything, as Ariel brushed out her finally clean, and sand-less hair. It'd taken awhile to scrub Harmony down, and the girl hadn't made it any easier by squirming the entire time.

"You're awfully quiet today." Ariel noticed as she brushed out her daughter's red hair. Ariel had expected her to be talking, or at least complaining like a normal teenager. But the girl had barely said a word during the bath, or even now when Ariel was brushing out her hair. It was as though she was mute! She'd never seen one of her daughter's so....calm and quiet before. It kind of scared her.

"I've just been thinkin'." Harmony said in a soft voice, as she rested her head against her vanity and closed her eyes out of exhaustion. That swim in the sea had taken a lot out of her, plus the fact that she was tired from not sleeping the night prior. Everything was just so jumbled up and confusing....it was hard to sort it out in her mind.

"Oh?" Ariel asked with interest, raising a brow at the girl who seemed to be asleep on the vanity. "Honey, if you're not feeling well...." Ariel said gently, as a sigh came from Harmony, but nothing more. Frowning slightly, and worried for her daughter's well being, Ariel moved aside the girl's hair from the back of her neck, and placed the back of her hand there. Hm, no fever....maybe she wasn't sick. Maybe it was something else... "Sweetheart, what's wrong?" Ariel asked softly, stroking her daughter's still wet red hair gently. The girl looked up from where she was resting her head in her arms, and sighed heavily as she looked into the mirror.

"My adopted parents are getting a divorce." She admitted, and for once didn't regret telling someone something about her life. Right now she needed someone to talk too....and that wasn't going to be Melody after that bitch had called her a slut in front of the entire kingdom. "It's all my fault. If I had been around more, maybe I could have stopped them from fighting, and then they'd still love each other, and we'd still be a family and I would be normal and---"

"Honey, it's not your fault their getting a divorce." Ariel said gently, hiding her shock and surprise at this news. "They just fell out of love....it was something that was bound to happen from the start." Ariel said gently, wiping a tear away from Harmony's face.

"I don't want them to get a divorce though." Harmony said in a whisper soft voice, looking up at her mother. "I know it'll stop all the fighting...the yelling...and screaming....and at night I won't have to worry about one of them hurting each other, or have to lock my door out of fear because the fight is so bad....but I still don't want it to happen." Harmony bit her lip as more tears threatened to fall out of her eyes and onto her ball gown. Ariel said nothing at first as she let what her daughter had just admitted sink in, while she gently wiped all the tears that escaped Harmony's eyes away before switching subjects.

"Why don't you stay here for tonight sweetheart? After all, you'll probably be exhausted by the time the ball ends...." Ariel was using that as her excuse for her overprotectiveness of her daughter. She hadn't known that there was so much fighting going on with her other parents....if she had she would've refused Harmony's idea of going in between worlds all together. She didn't want her daughter to feel fear when she was trying to sleep, she didn't want her to be living in an unsafe environment. But Ariel knew if she brought up those points her daughter would shoot them down with various excuses and not see her real family for months on end, because she was so mad.

"If I stay here I won't be able to go to school tomorrow though." Harmony argued, surprised at her own words. Since when had she cared about going to school? Usually she used every excuse she possibly could not to go....was she really that changed from a few months ago?

"That's alright." Ariel said quickly, as her daughter shot her a hard look. "I mean, it's alright if you skip tomorrow. If you went you'd probably be falling over from exhaustion because of going to bed so late." Ariel summed up her excuse as Harmony looked thoughtful for a moment, processing this. She still hadn't done her homework, and heaven knew what Ms. Ander-bitch-son would do to her if she showed up with no homework again.

"Okay, I guess I'll stay here tonight." Harmony said with a weak smile to her mother, who let out a relieved breath at her daughter's words. She set the brush back down on the vanity then, since she'd finished brushing the girl's hair, and put the final touch on.

"There, all finished. You look wonderful sweetheart." Ariel said with a smile, as she placed the girl's tiara on top of her head. Harmony looked in the mirror she was puzzled by the girl she saw.

The girl's red locks framed her delicate heart shaped face, and her electric blue eyes stood out as something to be noticed by. The tiara on her head glistened in the light, the jewels reflecting off one another in a beautiful way. Her floor length pink ball gown wrapped around her arms, tight but at the same time loose as the sleeves were, of course, poofy. The girl in the mirror all together looked like one of the pretty, popular girl's that Harmony had always envied from afar, wanting to have their looks and the boys that came with them. Looking more carefully at the girl in the mirror, Harmony saw a few scars on the girl's forehead that could be seen sometimes when her head moved and hair moved with it. That's when it stuck who that beautiful girl who was.

That girl in the mirror was...Harmony.


	14. Chapter 14

"Holy shi---" Harmony's mouth started saying, but was cut off by her mother before she could finish her sentence.

"Language Harmony." Ariel's gentle voice admonished, though it seemed as though her daughter hadn't heard a word that was just said. The girl was too busy gawking at her reflection in the mirror.

"Damn." Harmony said in a soft voice as her mother smiled at her in amusement to her daughter's reaction. She had to admit, the girl didn't look at all like her usual self. She looked somehow older with that dress on, though it wasn't anything special. It was a simple ball gown, nothing very intricate or 'cool' about it. It was just...plain. But plain made Harmony's features stand out more. "Is it too late for me to just put on a pair of jeans and skateboard?" Harmony asked nervously, as Ariel smiled comfortingly.

"Don't be nervous honey; everything is going to go great. You'll see." Ariel comforted, though she knew that Harmony was too smart to fall for her words. And the girl didn't. She just looked nervously at the mirror, starting to get creeped out by her own reflection.

"I'm ready." Melody called out, as she plopped down in a chair in her sister's dressing room. Harmony looked up at her sister and rolled her eyes as she pushed herself away from the vanity.

"And I think I'm going to be sick." Harmony mocked her sister, as she pretended to throw up. Melody shot her a dirty look before rolling her own blue eyes at what a drama queen her twin was. "Do I really have to do this? Everyone thinks I'm a slut...and I don't think they'll be very welcoming of the teenage witch princess who cut's herself...." Harmony said, biting her pinky nail as nerves finally set in.

"That was months ago Harmony, everyone has long forgotten about that....little incident." Ariel tried reassuring her daughter, but in truth she was trying to reassure herself. "And as you being a witch...." Ariel bit her lip, unable to go on with that sentence because she honestly didn't know where it would end.

"It's a part of you, like being a princess; it's something that you can't change." Though I really, really, really, wish you could change that part of you, Eric thought grimly to himself, as he came into his daughter's dressing room. "Everyone understands that." Eric said in a reassuring voice, though it did little to calm Harmony's nerves as she thought to herself with a grimace, not everyone. She knew her real parents still didn't accept her witch side entirely, but they were better at hiding it than her adopted parents.

"Can we go downstairs now?" Melody asked, in her best impatient voice that she could manage so that it sounded as though she was just being a teen. In truth, she was saving her twin from this awkwardness of her powers...and what happened at the last ball.

"I think that would be the best thing right now." Ariel said with a wink to her husband, who in turn chuckled as the couple, followed by Melody walked out of Harmony's dressing room.

Harmony stayed a moment, as she tried to decipher the feeling in her. It was a tingly feeling, something that kept nudging at her, telling her, no, _begging_ her not to go downstairs to that ball. Frowning, she looked at herself in the mirror for a moment as she placed a gentle hand on her heart, where the center of her feeling was radiating from.

Maybe she shouldn't go. Maybe she should tell her parents she was sick and stay in bed. She knew that they would understand completely, and would tuck her into her warm, safe bed without a second thought about the ball. But....she was too curious to find out what her feeling meant to go to bed. With another glance at the mirror, and the stranger who appeared, she walked out of her dressing room to catch up to her parents.


	15. Chapter 15

"And may I present her royal highness, Princess......_Harmony_." Grimsby's voice announced as Harmony came out from the shadows and started to walk down the steps. That slight hesitation by 'the announcer dude' as Harmony thought of Grimsby caught her interest though, as she mentally puzzled over it.

Why had he hesitated when he said her name? Was he nervous for her? Or even, dare she think, _worried_? Nah, it was probably just because her last ball had been...well, not what she thought it'd be let's just said. Still, the more she walked towards the last step, the more her tingly feeling grew, begging her to run back, to hide in her bed, to do _homework_ even, anything but be here right now.

That's when she noticed something odd about the crowd of people in the ballroom; not one of them was politely clapping at her appearance. Looking over at her parents for a second, both of them had wide eyes as they realized this, and Melody was frowning in confusion. Then looking back out at the ballroom, she noticed John standing in the middle of the crowd. When he made eye contact with her, his face turned pale and his eyes grew in horror as he mouthed one single word at her.

Run.

Why would he be telling her to run? And where would she run for that matter? Why was no one clapping? They had clapped for Melody, Eric, and Ariel....cheered even, but when she came down, not a single soul clapped for her. What was happening?

Finally reaching the ground, her cheeks started heating up as she felt the stares of at least a hundred or more people, none of them politely dropping their eyes when she looked back at them, and none of them even giving a curtsey or a bow at her.

The crowd was all silent, Harmony realized with dread. Not a word was being spoken. Someone coughed at the sound echoed throughout the ballroom. This can't be good, Harmony thought to herself with panic gripping at her throat. But outwardly she stayed calm, cool, collected as she managed a small smile to everyone, though she knew that it was faker than her I.D. that said she was 18 instead of fourteen.

"Remember me?" Alec's voice jerked Harmony's head to the left as she saw him standing no more than three feet away from her. Just looking at him made her heart start beating fast in remembrance of what had happened. The pain his kiss had caused, the words that had sealed her fate in society....just thinking about it caused Harmony to shudder.

"Go away Alec." Harmony warned in a low voice, backing up a step. He only moved forward as step, putting her in the exactly same predicament that she'd been in before.

"Or what? You'll kill me again?" He said in a loud voice, as the crowd tittered at his words. Ariel's eyes darkened as she took a step forward to show this boy that he wasn't going to bully her daughter, but she was firmly held back by Eric, who knew if she went forward, there'd be a scandal, and right now, that wasn't the best thing he needed for his family. "Face it, _slut_, you're all alone. Your kingdom thinks you're a loose girl because of what you've done with boys in the woods and they think you're a freak because you're a witch...you don't even _deserve_ to be a princess." Alec hissed as he knocked off Harmony's tiara to the ground.

"That's just your opinion because I refuse to kiss you. But it's not everyone's, right?" Harmony's hopeful voice was almost painful to hear, even to her as she turned to the crowd. "By a show of hands, who agrees with Alec?" Harmony said, her blue eyes roaming the crowd.

Slowly, but surely, hands started to go up, as the stares suddenly seemed icier, and the accusations started ringing out.

"She's freak of nature!" Someone's voice said, an adult Harmony realized.

"She's a slut!" Another, more feminine voice said.

"She's not a princess, look at her!"

"She shouldn't be here!"

"Her face is a mockery of this kingdom!"

"Look at her, she's crying!" Harmony suddenly felt herself being pushed from one person to the next and to the next as more accusations rang out, and her dress was torn from the unnecessary roughness. Her tears made it hard for her to see exactly who was pushing her around, but she didn't like it one bit as she kept tripping, and ten roughly being grabbed up, and pushed to the next person.

"I bet she's had sex." A bitter voice laughed, as she was pushed again.

"She's a prostitute in her other world I've heard." Another voice said, pushing her again.

"I'm not going to let her be the Queen of _my_ children." A female voice sniffed as she was pushed again. Her sobs started coming as she felt another one of her sleeves torn, and she bit her lip trying to get out of this predicament.

"Stop." Two deadly voices suddenly stopped the pushing of the young princess as she stumbled to the ground, and put her arms out in front of her to break her fall as her sobs were suddenly heard clearly. Harmony heard footsteps coming closer to where she was, but she didn't look up as her arms hugged her body out of fear, and pain.

"Sweetheart, I think you should go get some rest, alright?" Ariel's gentle voice said, as she kneeled on the ground next her daughter. The girl nodded, as her bottom lip trembled. Ariel gave her a sad half smile before kissing her daughter's forehead and gently pushing her in the direction of the exit of the ballroom. Melody had long since left, Ariel and Eric, once they realized what was happening to their daughter, had sent Melody to her room, to make sure she was protected from this sort of thing.

"Do you know what you just did? All of you?" Eric's deadly voice made the crowd full of adults, and Alec, not even dare look at him as they silenced their voices. "You just broke a fourteen year old girl's heart."

"My daughter has never hurt anyone of you purposely, ever. With Alec, she had no understanding of her powers at the time, and lost control over them causing his death. And yet, after he tried to kiss her, beat her up, and repeatedly insulted her, she still gave up her life so that he could live _because_ of her mistake. How many of you can honestly say you would do the same for that boy after he did that to you?" Ariel's quiet, calm, but deadly voice questioned, as her eyes swept over the people that inhabited her kingdom.

"Right now, Harmony is probably crying, because she doesn't understand why her kingdom would do such a thing to her. And after 34 years of living in this kingdom, of being raised and ruling it, I agree." Eric's voice cut through the air as the people gulped, knowing that when they're King _and_ Queen was furious....well, it wasn't any picnic.


	16. Chapter 16

"Do you remember when we were kids, and when we'd have nightmares we would sleep together?" A voice as soft as the wind said, as Harmony, startled, looked up at her brother, as confusion set in.

"Why are you in my room?" Harmony's voice cut through the air easily, as her brother's throaty chuckle sounded. Harmony sighed as she sat on her bed, grabbing at her pillow to hug. She wasn't going to cut herself, she wasn't going to cut herself, her mind kept chanting, as it took a lot of effort to follow it.

"I had a nightmare." Was all the boy said back. Harmony's brows arched uneasily at the thought of her brother in her room now, as late as it was. But she shook off her feelings of unease, thinking that she was just being a paranoid little girl. Maybe he was just waiting up for her to come back, yeah, that's it, Harmony convinced her mind.

"So?" The girl asked, pursing her lips in annoyance. She wanted to get to sleep already, as exhaustion was taking hold of her body. Besides, sleep would take away this nightmare, if only for a few hours. A few hours where she wouldn't have to cry her heart out, and battle her inner demons to cut herself at the pain.

"You never did realize it, did you?" Ryan's soft voice asked, as Harmony's brows furrowed in confusion, her fingers brushing through her knotted hair with no such ease as she would have liked.

"Realize what?" Kathy's irritated tone wondered, as Ryan lifted his hand from her bed, and gently tucked a hair behind her ear. He'd never done that before, something was wrong, her mind whispered, but she ignored her mind, just saying that he was being a big brother.

"How I felt about you." Ryan's whisper made Kathy's eyes grow wide, as he continued on. "You just crawled right in and you were part of our family. I always had to hold back, tell myself it was wrong, pretend it was all okay....but I can't anymore....Katherine...I'm in love with you." With that said, Ryan pressed his overly licked lips against Harmony's, who stiffened in shock, surprise, and fear.

The kiss must have gone on for a few seconds when Kathy finally realized what was happening, and she pushed her brother off of her. His lips felt cold, slimy, and awkward against hers, nothing like John's had. John...just the thought of his name made her yearn for him.

"Ryan, I love you, but I'm not _in_ love with you. I'm so sorry." Harmony whispered, shock radiating off of her. The look on her brother's face went from surprised to....crestfallen. Harmony took in one big gulp of spit, swallowing it down as it made a noise in her throat at what was happening.

First, she finds out her parents are getting a divorce, after all these years together. Second, she finds out that her kingdom hates her guts. And third, and the worst of all, she finds out her older brother is in love with her. Just the thought of that made her heart stop in pity....had she led him on to believe so? Oh god, this was terrible! Her relationship with her brother was the one thing she could always count on....and he loved her with all his heart....and she didn't love him back like that, not for one second.

"A-Are you sure?! Because I think you could learn to love me if you just tried, tried to see beyond us being brother and sister, though actually you're adopted and it's totally possible we can be together. Please Kathy, please you can see past this, right?!" Ryan's voice was uncertain as he rambled on, quite fast, in a nervous tone that immediately put Harmony's emotions on a roller coaster. With a sad look in her eyes, she looked at her brother, her eyes firm with her answer. This was just a joke, he'll stop any second, and her mind kept repeating...it's all just a game. It's all just a game. It's all just a game.

"Ryan, you're my brother. Not my boyfriend or lover. Just my brother." Kathy said in a soft, firm voice, one that made chills go up and down Ryan's spine at just the thought of it. Sadly, he pressed his lips together, and looked down at the sheets of his sister's bed, as to not meet her beautiful blue eyes that he thought had loved him like he loved her all these years.

"So be it." He whispered, as he pulled out a knife from behind his back, one of the thick one's from the kitchen. A life without his sister's love would be worse than dying, his mind confirmed for him. He hadn't wanted it to come to this....but it had. She didn't love him back....now it was time to show her what her decision had done to him.

Harmony's first instinct was to run from the weapon, run and hide. Run and scream. Run and tell. That was always the drill in school, at home, the thing that had been drilled into her mind from a young age. Don't let them hurt you with a weapon, scream, fight, don't let them touch you. Bracing herself for a fight, Harmony looked up at her brother, who only shook his head at her sadly, before he put both hands on the knife handle and drove it into his heart.

He immediately doubled over in pain as blood started pouring out. His mouth formed a perfect 'O', as Harmony's eyes went wide and scared as for a moment she sat there in shock. A knife....her brother....blood....somehow, a scream erupted from her throat as in horror she started to violently shake as she threw her brother back on his back and tears started falling down her face.

"Kathy! What on earth---Ryan! Oh god! What happened?!" Kathy didn't even look up at her mother who she knew was standing in the doorway of her open room, as she stared at her brother in shock and started sobbing in fear. His eyes were still wide open, staring at her, though his face was shocked as though he hadn't imagined the pain of stabbing himself.

"Call an ambulance!" Harmony's mouth screamed, though she had no idea how she was managing to do that. "He's stabbed himself!" She screamed again, her blue eyes looking up at the brown ones of her mother as she realized something. Her mother didn't believe her as she held onto her son.

"What did you do to him?!?" Her father's voice roared, shaking her shoulders so that she shook even more violently than she already was. She hadn't known her father was home.....what did it matter?! Ryan had just stabbed himself! And they...oh god!

"I didn't do anything, I swear! Please, call an ambulance, call someone, he stabbed himself dad! Please!" Harmony's pleading and sobbing voice said, as her shoulders were shaken even more.

"The ambulance is on its way Austin!" Her mother's panicky tone reached her ears, but Harmony wasn't able to relax knowing that the ambulance was on its way. For god's fucking sake, her brother had just STABBED HIMSELF IN FRONT OF HER!!

"My son...." Austin said, as he looked at his son in shock. His birth son, his rightful son, his only son.....NO! The boy hadn't been suicidal! It was that witch that lived in what used to be his home! She'd done this to her brother! He wouldn't have stabbed himself, no doubt about it! It was that bitch that witch, that _freak_.

"How could you do this to him!" Janice's shrieked voice asked, about four octave's higher than the normalcy for her. Her son was dead! And the culprit was the girl who was covered in his blood....the culprit was the witch that lived in her home!

"I didn't do anything! Mom, Dad, you have to believe me!" Harmony's voice shook even more violently than she, as her gaze fell from her dead brother, to Mom, to Dad. Her parents looked as though they'd want to wring her neck right there and then.

"My son is DEAD! And you want me to believe you have nothing to do with it?!" Austin's voice hurt his own ears, but he didn't care. Gripping the witch's arms so tightly that she yelped in pain, he threw her to the ground of her room, as she looked up at him with sobs.

"Please, I didn't do anything! I'm his sister, I wouldn't kill him! Mom, Dad, please, you have to believe me! He had the knife and he-he-he-" Harmony's broken voice broke off as she couldn't bring herself to say that he stabbed himself. It was too unreal, a movie, a book, not real life. This never happened in real life. No, this had to be a dream, it had to be.

"Get out!" Janice's voice screamed at a high pitch as Harmony tried to place her hand on her brother. "Get out of my house! Get out, get out, get OUT!" Janice's shrieked voice screamed, as she started to hear the sirens in the distance and she sobbed heavily. Her son....her only little boy....her son....

"Mom--Dad---" Harmony's voice sobbed, but her adopted parents, the one's that had raised her did nothing.

"Go to hell! Little bitch, you killed him! My only son....my boy....little freak, you just had to take the one thing away from me, didn't you? _**Didn't you?!"**_ Austin's voice screamed out, as his fist flew to Harmony's face.

The girl cowered at her father's touch, and crawled to the wall of the room, as the man started ripping things down from her room. C.D.'s were smashed against the floor, her poster's were all ripped up, her desk smashed, her stuffed animals that she kept for comfort heads torn from their body's. Harmony only watched the scene for about a minute, before she couldn't take any of it any longer.

With her knees pressed against her chest and her back to the far wall of her room, she reached out and grabbed her old teddy bear, before closing her eyes.

* * *

**Holy....wow. That's just...wow. Review...i'm not in the mood to be funny....Ryan just killed himself, Harmony has just been disowned by her adopted parents.....wow. Review, tell me about this chapter...wow. **


	17. Chapter 17

Harmony didn't reopen her eyes again as the sudden knowledge of seeing her brother kill himself struck over her, and she started sobbing into her knees, clutching her old bear to her chest. She had no idea where she was right now, but she knew that her brother was dead.

This was the worst day of her life, Harmony realized, and it would always be. Her adopted parents were getting a divorce, her kingdom had abandoned her, she saw her brother kill himself....and her adopted parents disowned her. She was all alone in the world now, she realized. Her brother had been the last person to keep the new knowledge about her as just knowledge....and he'd killed himself because she told him she didn't love him.

Damn it all, Harmony finally thought to herself. Damn happiness, because it only gets your spirits up to see them crash right back down. Damn love, because love made people kill themselves. Just look at Romeo and Juliet, killed themselves out of love. And now look at the new classic; her brother. Killed himself because she told him she only loved him as a brother. Her life was one big failure.

"Harmony?" A soft voice inquired, as the girl only sobbed more into her knees. The person frowned at this, before grasping the young teen's arm and pulling her up. The result was terrifying

Blood, dark red blood covered her clothes...which weren't very modest. Her face was stained with tears and blood, as the girl kept sobbing, using the wall as her support. These weren't sobs of what happened at the ball though, no, they seemed like worse than that sobs. Like you were slowly dying on the inside sobs of pain, and torture.

"Harmony, what happened to you? Are you hurt?" Melody's almost frantic voice asked, biting her lip as she stared at her sister. The girl only sobbed more, leaning more heavily against the wall.

"Okay....come on." Melody said after a minute, grabbing her sister's arm since the girl wasn't walking on her own. It was close to eleven, past Melody's curfew the girl knew...but she'd been kept up by this _feeling_. As if her sister was in danger, she'd been kept up worrying and panicking because she'd had this feeling before, and last time it had nearly cost the girl her life.

Opening the door to the study, which she knew her parents were in, she poked her head inside. "Mom, Dad?" She called hoping that they hadn't left. And they hadn't.

Ariel and Eric were drinking some wine, as they tried to think about what was going to happen with Harmony. But when Melody poked her head in, both looked up with tired amusement.

"Yes sweetheart?" Ariel asked, stealing a look at the grandfather clock. It was already eleven! Melody should have been in bed, sleeping, and hour ago! What was she doing up this late?

"Slight problem." Melody answered, pushing her sister into the study. Immediately both parent's eyes went wide as they did a once over at their bloodied, sobbing, and fearful looking daughter.

"Harmony!" Ariel's voice said in surprise and shock, as she took in the girl's shattered appearance at the moment. A dark liquid covered her clothes and some of her skin, as if it had only recently been spilled on. Her eyes were tortured by something, as the girl ran into her mother's arms, clutching onto her for dear life as she knew it.

"You're covered in _blood_!" Eric's shocked voice said, as the girl only sobbed harder into her mother's chest. "Harmony, what happened?!" Eric's clearly worried voice asked, as he gently stroked his daughter's red hair to try and calm her down enough so that she would talk.

"R-Ryan....I-I didn't k-know--I didn't t-tell him to--he-he just--and t-the knife--and then m-my p-parents....I-I---" Harmony broke off as she kept sobbing. She knew she was already in hysterics, but she couldn't help it. He'd been right there....and the knife....and her dad had ripped apart her room! Her wonderful, comforting, cozy, room gone like her brother.

"Shh, it's alright honey." Ariel's gentle voice said, rubbing her daughter's back so she could at least calm the girl down enough so that she was at least not in hysterics. Something really awful must have happened for her to be like this, it had to be. Even when Harmony was a baby, it'd been clear that she was the stronger baby, and that it took a lot for her to cry....it must have taken so much more for her to be in hysterics. "Melody?" Ariel's soft voice asked, not looking up from a hysterical Harmony who kept repeating 'I didn't, I didn't'.

"Yeah?" Melody answered, taking her eyes off of her sister and onto her mother who was holding the girl in her arms without complaint.

"Go get your sister some water....and ice for her eye." Ariel's soft command rang out, as her slender fingers traced the already bruising eye that looked awful. Who would hit the poor girl when she was already in a state of distress?

"Okay." Melody said in a quiet voice, slipping out of the study easily. Closing the door behind her, the sound of Harmony's hysteric's stopped ringing in her ears....but whatever pain that she'd just gone through, Melody felt a little of it too.

"Harmony, we'll help you with whatever the problem is, but you need to calm down first." Eric said in a quiet voice as his daughter only sobbed harder at that. He might not be totally happy about Harmony being a witch, and he still might not understand....but this wasn't a witch that was crying in front of him. No, it was a fourteen year old girl whose life, it seemed, was shattered.

"Honey, try to breathe normally. You need to calm down, this isn't good for you." Ariel said worriedly, as she stole a quick look at her daughter's bare arms. She let out a breath of relief when she saw that there wasn't any new cuts, though there was a lot of bruises which made her furrow her brows for a moment, before refocusing on her daughter.

"I-I...no...b-believe me...I d-didn't...m-my room...h-how...R-R-Ryan..." Harmony tried calming down, and taking deep breathes, but it was so hard! Once you hit hysterics it takes awhile to calm down, Harmony would know, considering this wasn't the first time she was hysterical.

"Shh, don't cry sweetie. Just take deep breathes." Ariel murmured, wiping off a tear from her daughter's eye, and grabbing the tissue Eric handed her to wipe the girl's nose off. What had happened to her?

"Here." Melody's soft voice said, as she handed a cup of cold water to her sister, and handed the ice pack to her mother. The cup shook in Harmony's hands, but she brought it up to her lips anyway and started drinking it, hoping that this would calm her down. Her parents watched with worried, but still yet gentle eyes as she finished the cup, and set it back down on the small table, where her mother had a glass of wine with still a lot in it.

"Better now?" Eric's gentle voice asked as his daughter nodded, taking in deep shuddering breaths. According to the note the girl had left, she was supposed to be at her other home, and as she had so cleverly said in her note 'I'm never coming back again'. That's what Eric and Ariel had been worrying about, that she would be true to her word....but then what was she doing here? Now? In hysterics?

"Yeah....sort of." Harmony said, still taking in deep breathes and exhaling them, making sure she didn't break down again, for at least, right now. Looking up, she saw the worried eyes of her family, each of them not even pushing for information as they were going to let her talk when she needed too.

"R-Ryan said that he was i-in love with me." Harmony started, as her mother took in a breath for a moment, before gathering her daughter back in her arms. Ariel didn't say anything, but from the way she hugged Harmony, there was no mistaking that she was comforting her daughter. "I-I told him t-that I didn't l-love him t-that way...and he-he got a kni-knife and...." Harmony bit off there, wincing as she struggled to say the words. "S-Stabbed himself." Harmony was on the verge of hysteric's again, she knew that by the way her mother's arms tightened around her, sending a silent message that she was safe now.

"I-I screamed....I-I t-told th-them I didn't kill him....but t-they k-kept s-s-saying I d-d-did. He-he started t-to shake m-me r-really hard and the-then th-threw me o-on the ground. I-I kept s-saying I-I d-didn't d-do any-anything....h-he hit me...and sh-she scr-screamed at me to ne-ne-never come back....h-he ripped m-my po-poster's...an-and bro-broke all my-my st-stuff. I-I d-didn't do i-it Mom. Please d-don't hurt m-me...I d-didn't w-want hi-him to k-ki-kill himself....pl-please...b-be-believe m-me." Harmony's word's tumbled over one another as her tear stained eyes looked into her mother's. All of a sudden, the room seemed very quiet; the only sound was her ragged breathing.

"Melody....take your sister...to the...dungeon."

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**Wow. review. Wow. **


	18. Chapter 18

There was a complete silence after those words were said, as one girl looked as though someone had just told her that a llama was now king, and the other looked, well, broken.

"What?! Mother, that's completely unreasonable! Harmony didn't do anything to him, don't you believe her?!" Melody practically shouted, as Harmony disentangled herself from her mother's arms and literally fell to the floor in shock. On the floor she curled up into a little ball, her vision masked with tears as the sobs were stuck in her throat. They were going to lock her up again. They hated her. They were going to abandon her again.

"Of course I believe her Melody." Ariel's icy voice said, forcing herself not to grab her other daughter and hold her so close that the girl couldn't breathe. "But you have to admit, after what happened last time.....maybe her powers just got out of hand again....and it's only for awhile, until we can sort everything out." Ariel gulped down what was left of her parental authority, feeling as though someone had dropped a brick on her head. Eric beside her was just....shocked. He was staring from his wife, to his daughter curled on the floor, rocking herself back and forth from the pain.

"I won't do it." Melody said stubbornly, crossing her arms over her chest and staring at her mother. "I don't care what you say _Mother_, she didn't do anything, I _**know **_she didn't. You can't send her back to jail again, Mother just **look** at her! She'll _die_ if she goes back!" Melody tried pleading for her sister, as her own tears welled up and she begged for her sister's life.

"Melody, do as I say. Now." Ariel wasn't a parent when she said that, no; it was the command of a Queen. Melody trembled as her eyes grew wide in more shock and surprise than there'd ever been in her life. Her mother had never used that voice with her, never. She'd always said that being a Queen was totally different than her being a parent. She'd said that all of Melody's life....and now she was doing this.

"Okay." Melody's soft, barely above a whisper voice said, as she grabbed her sister's arm and practically dragged the girl out of the room. The entire time Harmony had her gaze fixed on Ariel, blubbering to not do this, to please not do this to her.

"Harmony, I swear to god, I will get you out of hear as soon as I can. Just hang on, okay. Please, please, don't do anything to yourself. I need you Harmony. Please, I'll get you out soon. I promise." Melody said, as tears ran down her cheeks. Harmony did nothing but blankly stare at her sister, wondering if this was really happening.

Melody locked the jail cell with a goodbye and another promise to her sister that she'd get her out soon, as she went back to her parents to plead with them how stupid this was.

Harmony looked around at the four walls of the dungeon, tears still flowing down her face. On the far wall, there was her blood from last time she'd been in here, in the left corner was her rock....and up higher than she could reach on the right wall was the window, covered with rusty bars so that she couldn't escape, not that she new how to in the first place. And as she curled into a fetal position, back in hysterics, and her mind started roaming within itself.

She couldn't be abandoned any more, no, they couldn't do this to her any longer. She was so scared! Her brother had just killed himself....and she was going to jail for a crime she most definitely hadn't committed. That was it. She was officially, and most definitely, an orphan. She had no parents any longer.

From what she remembered, orphan meant: A child who has been deprived of parental care....well, looking around it seemed that was accurate enough. Her adopted parents, the ones that had loved her for thirteen years, raised her, cared for her, been proud of her, had kicked her out because they believed she'd killed her....sibling. Then, her real parents, no, her real _mother_, has her sent to a dungeon 'because you have to admit after what happened last time....' why did she even pretend to care about her?

"I can be optimistical, right Kat?" Harmony's clear voice said, as she realized she was going mental. But she didn't care as she kept talking to herself, in loud clear voice. "It'll all be fine, don't worry." Her voice kept repeating, as she looked down at her hands to realize....she still had her bear in her hand. Taking the bear and hugging it to her chest, she kept rocking back and forth, back and forth, trying to comfort herself.

"Don't worry Poppy." She said to the bear, addressing it by his name. "Everything will be okay, you'll see. I'll have a family. We can live in a big house, with a trampoline in the backyard, and all the ice cream we'll be able to eat. And Ryan and me will play Xbox everyday and I'll finally be able to beat him in Halo 3, even though he'll cheat and say that I didn't really win." Harmony rambled on, knowing that clearly, she'd found her mental breaking point, but she didn't care. As she hugged her old bear to her chest tightly, she knew _now _what it felt like to be abandoned.

Oh the first time she'd been in the dungeon she'd thought they'd abandoned her, but that wasn't the case. Maybe one family had, but she could still rely on her other family at that time. Now, she thought bitterly, with no family, no friends, no life, she knew it was only a matter of days before she died of a broken heart. _That_ was abandonment. To feel totally lost, and know that you could have changed so many things, and then everything would have been so much better. To know that you could run, but where would you go? Who would love you, like a mother, or a father should.

Oh why did this have to happen to _**her**_?! What on earth had she ever done in her life to deserve such a thing?! Yes, at times she'd lied to her parents and said she'd done her homework so that she could run outside, but didn't all teens do that? And what else, her bad grades? She was trying to get them up, honest to god, she was _trying_ so hard. There were teenagers out there who did drugs, and then came back home at two in the morning all high and telling their parents how much they hated them. She'd never done that! She'd gotten drunk once, and it had been an accident! She hadn't know there'd be beer at that party, and she just wanted a little of it. One bottle and she was drunk! How was she supposed to know that?!

"Don't worry Poppy. I'll make sure you get to see the bears at the zoo, like I promised. Don't worry, I will. I won't back down on my promise Poppy. I'll take you to the zoo to see all the bears. And maybe you'll find your momma, maybe she really misses you and she'll love you. Maybe....just maybe..." Harmony said the last sentence so quietly that her lips barely moved, as her head rested on the ground, and clutching the teddy bear, she shivered and cried, until she fell asleep.

But even sleep didn't stop the girl's nightmare.

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**Thanks Melody. Really, for being there for your sister. No sarcasm intended. **

**Review. I'm crying, no, i'm bawling. But still, review. **


	19. Chapter 19

"Melody, your giving me a migraine." Ariel muttered, rubbing her temples with two fingers on either side. Her daughter was persistent, she'd give the girl that.

"Good. I hope I make your head scream in pain so loudly that it wakes up your brain and you remember that my sister is locked up in a jail cell right now because of how something looks! I don't care if she even did kill him Mother, right now she's crying and sobbing and hysterical because she thinks her family has abandoned her, both of them, and I'm not going to sit around and let her think that!" Melody said, as her voice raised in anger. Ariel sighed heavily, closing her eyes as Eric ran his fingers through her red hair, not saying a word.

It wasn't as though Ariel enjoyed locking her daughter up, honest to god she hated it! But it was the only way to keep her safe, at least for now, her mind told her, as she winced unintentionally. After what happened at the ball Ariel had been _glad _to find out that her daughter was staying at her other home. She wanted to girl to be as far away from the palace as possible, because what if someone tried to hurt her while she was asleep? It wasn't all too hard to climb up a rope to her balcony, break into her room, and kill her while she was sleeping! Let her think I'm an awful mother, Ariel thought to herself with a heavy heart. Let her hate me, let her never see me again, let her wish that I die in the deepest, darkest, pit in hell, but please, please, _**please**_ keep her safe.

"I'm going to go let her out." Melody said with a triumphant expression finally, turning around...to have her wrist caught by her mother who pulled the girl back to the couch.

"No, you're not." Ariel said in an even tone, knowing full well why Eric wasn't saying a word. He didn't like her plan to keep her daughter safe one bit. He didn't want the girl locked up, and he certainly didn't want Harmony hurting herself while inside of the dungeon because she thought her entire family hated her. But Ariel had insisted, pleaded, and begged him to just follow her plan, just for tonight so she could be sure nothing happened to her daughter. She'd lost the girl so many times before....she wasn't going to lose her again. Even if that meant the girl refusing to even look at her, as long as her daughter was safe and healthy Ariel could care less.

"Tell me one good reason why I shouldn't." Melody said, pushing her mother to the very edge at that. Ariel was about to erupt, Melody knew. She knew her mother was going to kill her, but she didn't care. She'd screwed up her sister's life before, and now, she wasn't going to let it happen again. She was going to fight her mother on this, even if she had to kick and scream and throw a tantrum on the floor. Her sister was already dealing with a hard life as it was, and Melody refused to add to that any longer.

"Ariel, she's right." Eric's soft voice finally said, firmly. Ariel turned her head up too look at him, her eyes wide and full as her bottom lip jutted out in a pout that she knew he couldn't resist. She wasn't going to let her daughter get it harm's way!

"Eric---" Ariel started, but never got to finish, seeing as how Eric jumped back in.

"Love, Harmony just had the most precious things in her life destroyed. Does that sound familiar? Your father destroyed your grotto in an effort to protect you, yet you still went to the sea witch to become human out of your grief. Remember, my love, how much you told me it hurt to see your father destroy something so valuable to you? Now think back to Harmony. She's just seen her brother kill himself, her adopted parents have basically thrown her out, her things are destroyed, and all she has left of that is her memories and a small teddy bear. _Now_ tell me that you want to keep her down there any longer, for her own protection." Eric's reason was enough to cut through Ariel, as she was suddenly flashed back to that day.

She could see it perfectly. The glow of the Trident, the terror sinking in as she realized what he was doing to her things. She was begging him to stop it, to cut it out, please, please don't do this to me. And then he turned to her statue....no Daddy, don't do it! Please, I love him so much; please don't destroy the only thing I have of him. Please Daddy....all that's left is his face.

"Alright." Ariel said in a whisper soft voice, as Eric gave her a sad smile and kissed her forehead. "Melody, go off to bed, it's already one in the morning. Your father and I will get Harmony." Ariel finally said the words to her daughter, and Melody frowned for a moment, but the pleading in her mother's eyes caught her. With a nod, the girl went out of the room, but she didn't go off to bed. No, she would hide and make sure her mother stayed true to her word.

"Harmony?" Ariel's own voice was still soft, as she drew her daughter's head into her lap. The girl was tightly hugging the bear in her arms, as tears, still fresh covered her face. She didn't seem as though she'd hurt herself while down here....then again, with all the blood on her clothes it was hard to tell.

"Hm?" Harmony stirred in her sleep, but didn't wake up. With a sigh, Ariel's slender finger's traced her daughter's black eye, before looking up at Eric who immediately understood.

"I've got her." Eric said quietly, as he lifted his teenage daughter off the ground. Her shorts were showing a lot of skin.....but he didn't focus on that as he made sure that he gently set her down on her own bed.

"Here, let me put her in something clean." Ariel's voice quietly said as she grabbed a clean silk nightgown from one of her daughter's drawers. With a small grin to Eric, she set the nightgown on the bed before turning to him. "She'd never forgive me if I changed her clothes in front of her father." Ariel said with a small laugh as she gestured to him to at least turn his back so he didn't see anything.

"Because I've just been _dying_ to see my teenage daughter naked." He said sarcastically, as Ariel's tinkling, but yet exhausted laugh rang out. Still, he turned around as Ariel took her daughter's bloody clothes off of her and replaced them with a warm, silk nightgown that fitted her body perfectly.

"Alright, you can turn back now." Ariel giggled to her husband as she finally had the girl in the nightgown. As Eric started to tuck his daughter into the bed, Ariel looked at the girl's French doors that lead to her balcony in worry. "Do you think....?" Ariel's dry, but worried beyond the extreme voice said, as she realized that it was already two in the morning. Where had the time gone?

"No one can get in Ariel. Guards are everywhere tonight, after what happened at the ball, don't worry." Eric reassured, completely confident that there was no way for someone to get in. And he was right, since guard's were posted at every exit, every entrance....no one wanted a death in the royal family.

"Alright." Ariel finally said, still not completely convinced, but at least some of her worry vanished. Leaning down, she kissed her daughter's forehead, hoping that the girl would understand why Ariel was so overprotective.

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**A glimpse into Ariel's mind: For twelve years her daughter was missing. Twelve years of not knowing, twelve years of just wanting to know if her daughter is alive or dead. That's what Ariel had to go through, and after the many close calls that she's almost lost her daughter, she's bound to be more overprotective of her than Melody. She wants her daughter to be safe, and if going to extreme lengths like locking th girl up in a dungeon is what she has to do, well, so be it. I think that should answer a few questions. **

**Well, it's 4:08 here in Miami, and i just found my dr. pepper lip smacker, which isn't the normal lip smacker size, cuz it's like one of those 'special' ones that's HUGE. Mhm, taste good. No, actually it smells good. But i don't really like, put it on my tounge (sp?) and taste it. Ew, that's nasty. Unless it's a good flavor. Like once, i had this amazing flavor called 'roasted marshmellows' omg, best smelling lip balm ever created. I would like get high off it during class, and my teachers would stare at me and be all like 'what the hell...?' But i actually never tasted it...you know what? I don't even know if they make that flavor from lip smackers anymore. But it was a good smelling flavor. I wouldn't mind putting THAT on my tounge. (ew, not that way, pervs)**

**Well, let me just acknowledge something here. xJadeRainx you REALLY NEED TO POST UP A NEW CHAPTER! Come on, i'm dying here! I won't post up any of MY chapters until you do. Same goes for you percabethrox17. I need to find out more and none of you are posting up! It's really getting me depressed! I think i'm going to go into a little corner and be emo now. No, actually, i'll go into a little corner and be Harmony. ANd i can say that joke because I WRITE HER STORY so none of you can criticize me. HA! Sucka's!**

**I actually own a bear called Poppy. He's a panda bear (stuffed animal, obviously) full named 'Poppy the Panda'. My mom read that story to me when i was three years old, and then she got me a panda bear, who i named after the storybook panda. I still sleep with him every night because he keeps the bad dreams away. Duh. So anyway, don't sue me. Or maybe you should, though i don't know what you'd want. Would you want Poppy? Sorry, not for sale. Priceless childhood heirloom. No matter how many millions you offer, you can't put a price on childhood....ONE TRILLION?! GAH! sorry, still no. :( he's my bff forever, and bff's don't put each other up for sale, unless it's like cuz they have a good reason like 'i wanted money'. Then they can. **

**Okay so i tired, and i go to sleep now. REVIEW! And if i don't post up any chapters tomorrrow night, blame xJadeRainx for not posting quick enough, and ditto to Percabethrox17. SUCKA"S!**

**REIVEW! OR I WILL---ooh! Shiny object has captured my add like interest!**


	20. Chapter 20

"Urghhh." Harmony groaned as she woke up, sitting up in her bed and looking out the window. For a moment, her mind was muddled as to why she was in her palace bedroom, but still groggy from waking up, she brushed it past her, saying that it was probably Saturday or something.

Dragging her body out of her comfy bed, she managed to walk to her connecting bathroom and to her wash basin. Taking some of the water in her hands, she splashed it on her face to wake up, before looking into her mirror.

Her face was all puffy, and her eyes were swollen, as if she'd spent the entire night crying. If she'd been crying....had she....? Raising the sleeves on her silk nightgown, she gawked at what she saw. Dried blood. No, not hers, because none of her cuts were fresh. But there was blood all over her arms. With wide eyes, she lifted the hem of her nightgown to find that too, her legs were covered in dried blood. What the hell....?

That's when it hit her like a ton of bricks, a rabid flying mongoose, or even terrible music; it just hit her so very _**hard**_. The memories of the night prior started to envelope her mind as she sank to the floor, shaking violently, as she hugged her arms around her.

They had locked her up again. Ryan was dead. NO! Her older brother, her best friend....how could he do that to her? Her things....all destroyed....everything ruined....her life shattered...her sobs...the four walls...the bars on the window....Ryan.

Oh Ryan! He was gone. Never to see his cocky overconfident smile as he made his bike do this trick and then looked back to her with challenge in his eyes. Never to laugh at a weird video he found on the internet...never to secretly take pictures of him looking awful, and then posting it up on Facebook. Never to get yelled at by him for going into his room...never to see his hand extended and have him help her up when she falls into the mud. How could he just go like that?

Kill himself....she should have said she loved him. She should have screamed when she saw the knife. She should have tattled because he was in her room. She should have been a better sister. She should have tried to use a healing spell....she should have forced the spell to work! Who the hell cares if the spell doesn't work on intentional injuries, she should have _**made **_it work! He was gone....gone from life...soon he'd bee six feet under...and he was gone because of her. She didn't deserve to live! Not while Ryan was out there, dead. And his blood was literally all over her hands. She'd done it this time. Oh, yes she'd done it.

She _killed _her brother.

"Harmony, please, open this door." Ariel pleaded with her teenage daughter, who had apparently, locked herself in her room. Something was thrown at the door--a shoe?--and a muffled 'go to hell' could be heard.

"Harmony, you can't stay in there forever." Eric tried reasoning with his daughter as he rattled the doorknob of her room. Still locked. Sighing, he turned to his wife, pleading in his face to try to do something. The girl hadn't locked the door with the simple chair because there was a trick to unlocking that. Oh no, she'd gone one up. She'd placed a spell, making the door impossible to unlock. At all.

"Wanna bet?" Harmony's voice shouted, as she threw her other converse at the door, trying to give them the message that she wasn't going to be getting out of her room any time soon.

"Sweetheart, please, come out and let me at least _explain_." Ariel pleaded again, rattling the doorknob as hard as she could. The door was still locked! Her daughter couldn't spend the rest of her life in her room!

"I'd rather be a cannibal!" Harmony shouted as loud as she could, kicking her door as hard as she could. She'd killed her brother...her only brother...the boy who would give her the cherry on his sundae because he knew that's the part she loved! He was dead....he was dead...

"No...Ryan...I'm so sorry...Ryan..." Harmony said, as she sunk to the floor of her room and put her face into her knees. Her brother was dead! She could have tattled, she should have told him that she loved him! She should have been there for him! She should have realized his feelings and let him down gently, but no! She had to tell him that she didn't love him, and let him just stab himself in front of her!

"Harmony! Please let us in!" Ariel tried the doorknob again, rattling it as hard as she could, but it did nothing. The girl's sobs got louder, but she refused to open the door to her parents. With nothing else, and the pleading not working, Ariel shook her head and sighed.

"Maybe she'll come out on her own if we leave her alone." Eric reasoned, and Ariel sighed again, her hand going to the door, and letting it fall. Her daughter wasn't going to let her in, and if she couldn't tell the girl why she put her in the dungeon, then it would be impossible to get in.

"Maybe..." Ariel said in a soft voice, resting her head against the door of her daughter's room for a moment. Stupid, stupid, stupid, her mind chanted. Why couldn't she ever do this parenting thing right?

After screwing up with Melody, she should have been smarter, and told her other daughter right away about her mermaid history! But no, she hadn't wanted to girl to get scared, and didn't say a thing, resulting in the girl running off to Morgana and practically _killing _herself! Then, when her daughter had confessed with so much fear that she was a witch and had somehow killed Alec, she sends the girl off to the dungeon! The poor girl had been confused, scared, she hadn't known that was even a possibility! And to make it worse, Ariel hadn't even gone down to the dungeon's to see her daughter and at least give her something to eat, or a nice warm blanket so that she didn't freeze to death! Then she'd chosen kingdom over family, resulting in the girl running away, almost being _killed_ again, then she'd practically told her daughter she was a freak....and now she'd sent the girl off the jail again because she'd wanted to keep her safe! Well she was doing an excellent job, just look at how many near death experiences Harmony had had since she'd been in this world!

"Love, come on." Eric's soft voice said, pulling Ariel out of her guilt trip as she looked up at him, startled. He extended his hand....and before Ariel took it, she turned to the girl's door one more time.

"I know you can hear me Harmony, and I know you hate me right now. But I just wanted you to know....

I love you."

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**Thinking of Ryan makes me tear up, you? REVIEW!**

**Okay, so here's the deal. I start ninth grade orientation on friday, my first day of high school. From Thursday and every other weekday that i have school the next day on, I'll have a 11:00 computer curfew. Since i'm starting school back up, I'll most likely not be posting as many chapters as i usually do every night, but please, i beg you to be paitient. I'm going to a completely new High School and i have no idea who anyone there is, and i'm a bit scared about going through this all again (i had to do the exact same thing for middle school) so i'm going to be a bit frazzled!**

**Please don't be mad because i can't control the way school run's, or how my parent's think. I'll try to post up at LEAST one new chapter everyday, but don't freak out if i miss a few days. Just a forewarning for all of you who read my story. **

**Okay, so enough about the warning, and onto acknowledgements: **

**Percabethrox17 has a good story up called 'A Dance, A Song' and I want every one of you who read my story to read it and review. Or else. Also, xJadeRainx has a really good story up too called 'Ocean Heart' and i want all of you to read it and review. Again, OR ELSE. **

**Thank you for your cooperation, and for choosing, American Airlines. We know why you fly. **

**Yeah...um, doesn't that sound just a tad stalkerish? Oh well. Review the stories i told you about, but more importantly (sorry guys, my story, my publicity is more important than urs :P) REVIEW MINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :DDDDDD**


	21. Chapter 21

Ariel looked up at her daughter's balcony, and sighed, draping her cloak around her shoulder's tightly, because a light snow was already coming on. Once snow had held her interest, it had been magical...now it was just another part of land. She wished she could talk to her Harmony....say that she was sorry....but the girl was as stubborn as her mother, which wasn't exactly a great thing.

"_Broken hearts and last goodbyes  
Restless nights but lullabies  
Helps make this pain go away  
I realize I let you down  
Told you that I'd be around  
Building up the strength just to say..._

Ariel looked up at Harmony's balcony again at that, and with a sigh, kept on singing.

"_I'm sorry  
For breaking all the promises that didn't keep.  
Its all me  
I just wanted you to be safe.  
But you're already in so much pain._

I wanted to protect you from pain....but I ended being the one to cause it.

_I'm filled with sorrow, your filled with pain  
And I know I am to blame  
For leaving your heart out in the rain  
And I know you're so hurt from what I've done  
But before you say 'I hate you' I want to say_

If Ariel accepted that her daughter hated her....then why did it still hurt so much?

_I'm so sorry You're in pain."_

_Melody sat on her bed and sighed. After ten minutes of begging and pounding on her sister's door, the girl was still refusing to come out. Was it every family that was like this, or just hers? With a sister who had too many problems to count, parents that just didn't understand, and kept messing up....it seemed as though the happy royal family act they put up during balls was just that, an act. Behind the scenes, her family was so broken, so lost, so forgetting._

_"You may think  
I'm just fine  
How could anything  
Ever be out of line?_

None of those nobles could see past the fake smiles, and the forced happiness.

_I take my time  
To set the stage  
To make sure everything  
Is all in place_

She was trying, really, really hard to make it all stay together, keep up the act....but the glue was slowly wearing off.

_Even though I've got the lines rehearsed  
A portrait only paints a thousand words_

There were too many things happening all at once, and they all had forgotten about their act.

_Things aren't always what they seem  
You're only seeing part of me  
There's more than you could ever know  
Behind the scenes  
I'm incomplete and I'm undone  
But I suppose like everyone  
There's so much more that's going on  
Behind the scenes_

There had to be other families that were like this, that had so many problems that they forgot about the play....but why did those families, have to include hers?

_Sometimes I can't see  
Anything  
Through the dark  
Surrounding me  
And at times I'm unsure  
About the ground  
Beneath my feet  
If it's safe and sound_

How could the ground be stable if someone lit a fire around it, and it was slowly burning away the ground?

_Yes, you may think I'm just fine  
How could anything ever be out of line, __In the royal family's life?"_

_Why was her life so unfair, Harmony thought to herself bitterly, kicking something that was in her path, without really looking at it. The thing she kicked flew at the impact of her foot, landing a few yards away, and then the rustle of pages could be heard. Looking up at the thing, Harmony realized that she'd kicked....her sketchbook. Sighing, the girl got down to her knees and started to collect all of the sketches. While doing so, her eye caught one that she hadn't seen in so long, that had drops of dried blood on the page._

_"Closed off from love  
I didn't need the pain  
Once or twice was enough  
And it was all in vain  
Time starts to pass  
Before you know it you're frozen_

She could have braced herself for this type of thing to happen again after the first time...she should have realized that girlish fantasies weren't real.

_They don't know the extent of my pain  
My heart's crippled by the vein  
That I keep on closing  
You cut me open and I_

Months ago, she had wished for adventure, excitement, something different than her day to day routine at home....why did someone grant her wish, just to mock her?

_Keep bleeding  
Keep, keep bleeding love  
I keep bleeding  
I keep, keep bleeding love  
Keep bleeding  
Keep, keep bleeding love  
You cut me open_

The scars would always be there, no matter how hard she tried to hide them....the blood would always spurt out of his heart, no matter how many times she closed her eyes.

_Trying hard not to hear  
But they talk so loud  
Their piercing sounds fill my ears  
Try to fill me with doubt  
Yet I know that their goal  
Is to keep me from falling_

She didn't want to hear her adopted parents screams, she didn't want to here her real parents pleading to come out...she didn't want to have her life destroyed before she got to live it.

_It's draining all of me  
Oh they find it hard to believe  
I'll be wearing these scars  
For everyone to see_

Not jut her scars on her arms, no, the ones on her heart too.

_And I  
Keep bleeding love."_

The sketch was of a three year old Kathy, riding her new Barbie bicycle, with training wheels.


	22. Chapter 22

"Darling, what are you doing out here? It's freezing." Eric's quiet voice broke through Ariel's gentle hum that blended into the waves with--what else--harmony.

"Mhm hm. It is cold." Ariel's soft voice said, as snowflakes fell all around her, and into her red hair, making it seem as though they were on fire. She offered no explanation as to why she was outside though, as she closed her eyes and listened to the sound of the waves mix with the feel of snowflakes on her skin.

"Last time you were out here you caught pneumonia." Eric said, gently cupping his wife's face in his hand so that she could see the soft pleading in his eyes. "And I don't think Harmony will be in any mood to bring you back from the brink of death. Please come inside?" Eric asked, his blue eyes worried for his wife. Ariel shook her head, and took her face out of his hands, as Eric sighed.

"I'm worried about her Eric. I lost her once....it's like I lost her all over again." Ariel sighed, letting Eric wrap his arms around her small waist, and she let her own head fall back against his chest as she looked out at the waves.

"_We_ haven't lost her again Ariel." Eric corrected automatically, before looking back down at his troubled wife and sighing. "Ariel, she's scared right now, that's why she locked herself in her room. She saw her brother literally stab a knife right through himself, and she was covered in blood when she ran into your arms. _His_ blood." Eric paused for a moment there, letting his words sink into Ariel as she frowned.

"What am I supposed to do?" Ariel's whispered voice wondered, squeezing her eyes shut so she didn't cry. No, Queens only cried when they were alone, so that none of the people saw her pain.

"Talk to her." Eric answered, resting his chin above her head easily.

"How? She won't even open up the door of her room." Ariel sighed, downhearted at the thought of that. She didn't notice that Eric had a small mischievous smile playing at the ends of his lips though.

"Oh she will." He said confidently, causing Ariel to pull her head away, and look up at him with heavy skepticism in her face.

"How can you be so sure?" Ariel wondered, not at all liking that mischievous expression on Eric's face. What was he up to?

"Because," Eric started, smiling fully as he looked down at Ariel. "She has to run out of books to read sometime."

Harmony was officially insane from the soul crushing boredom. She'd spent the entire day snacking off on various items of junk food that she knew no mother would ever approve of. So what, her mind retorted, she didn't have a mother anyway. Or a father. Or a bro---

"It's okay. It's okay." Harmony whispered at the thought of her brother, taking in deep breathes and inhaling and exhaling. Her face, she knew, looked like hell from all the sobbing and hysteric's she'd been in and out of all day. No princess ever looked as bad as she did then.

But, who did she honestly have to show her face too? Her kingdom? Yeah, sorry they all turned on her. Her family? Her throat tightened instinctively at just the thought of it. Her friends? What friends? Face it, her mind said, she was a princess without a kingdom. Just another voice in the crowd of nobodies.

Looking at the grandfather clock in her room, Harmony sighed as she realized it was already midnight. She couldn't go back to sleep, not while she still had horrible nightmares....but there was nothing else to do. She couldn't compose unless she sketched, and she couldn't sketch unless she read.

And honest to god, there were no books in her room that she hadn't read. She supposed she could just think of a book title and the book would appear in her hand....but she'd rather get a book from the library, be surrounded by hundreds of adventures. That's it! She'd go to the library! No one would be there at _this_ time of night!

With her mind officially made up, Harmony pushed up the sleeves of her nightgown as she cautiously opened up her door. Peeking her head, and only her head out from her door, she looked to both left and right before deeming the hallway clear. Walking on her bare tiptoes, Harmony made her way through the halls almost silently, looking like a ghost in her white nightgown.

There was a shortcut to get to the library, she knew. But it passed her parent's room. Still...if it was shorter than the normal way, Harmony was up for it. Besides, she reasoned with herself with a tiny smile, she could pretend she was Nancy Drew, teen sleuth investigating a haunted house.

When she got to the hall that she knew held her parents room, she carefully took in a huge breathe, and tiptoed past the doors, so quiet that a pin could have fallen, and it would have sounded like a symphony. Once past her parents room, there was a small staircase that led up to the library, and Harmony soon realized she didn't need to be so careful on these stair, fore none of them groaned when she stepped on them, like the ones in.....Nebraska---no, never mind that now.

Getting to the huge doors of the library, Harmony meekly and carefully so they didn't make a sound, pushed one door forward enough so that she could slip in. She didn't bother to close it, because she knew if she did that it would make a noise, and then someone would find her here.

Stepping carefully across the wooden floor, Harmony's fingers fell across the many, many, maybe even thousand books that this one room held lovingly, as her throat tightened, realizing that these were now her only friends. The only people she could connect to weren't even people, no, they were characters in a story written by a person who had better things to do than to talk to a scared, confused, and broken hearted teenage girl.

"If only...." Harmony whispered softly into the cavernous room, letting her whisper fall across the library. "If only my life was a story....all I would have to do is flip to the end and find my happily ever after." She whispered so softly to herself, as silent tears feel down her face. Then suddenly, there was a light in the room. Turning around quickly, Harmony saw the vague outline of a person, leaning against one of the shelves.

"Whoever said 'happily ever after's' are only for endings?"

* * *

**OOH! Who was the person? Melody? Eric? Ariel? Hm...review and you shall find out! xJadeRainx if you don't update soon, like Percabethrox17 did (which good job btw!) i will take it upon my young shoulders to murder your ass. No, actually, i'll just force you to write, THEN if you don't make a sequel, i'll kill you. No, i'll just force you to write a sequel...THEN I'll kill you! *cue evil laugh***

**Okay, so i'm watching the movie Supersize Me right now. Last time i watched this i was on a road trip to North Carolina, oh yeah, and i was like 9!! Last time after watching it, imediately after finishing the movie, i asked my parents if we could stop for lunch at McDonald's because the movie made me hungry. I'm really screwed up in the head, aren't i? OH WELL! **


	23. Chapter 23

"Don't you have another daughter's life to abandon?" Harmony's bitter laugh said, still soft in the room full of books.

"If I had abandoned you," Ariel said in a slow voice, letting her words sink into her daughter. "You would be outside right now, in that storm, cold, scared, and wishing you were here instead; inside of the warm castle, and in your nightgown where you're safe." Ariel's soft voice said, firmly. She hadn't abandoned her daughter, no; she'd never do such a thing to the girl. She'd screwed up big time, but she hadn't abandoned her.

Harmony didn't say anything to that, but take a book off of a shelf and start flipping through it. The book was dusty, and it wasn't particularly doing anything for her asthma, but she still flipped through the pages as Ariel silently watched. Finally finding what she was looking for in the book, Harmony stuck her pointer finger to the word before slowly reading.

"Abandon: to leave completely and finally; forsake utterly; desert. Need I say more?" Harmony's tone was mocking, almost challenging to her mother. But Ariel kept her anger in check, and only took the book from her daughter's hand, snapping it shut as a cloud of dust arose in the air. Placing the book back on the shelf, Ariel then sat on a couch and curled her feet next to her before looking warily up at her daughter.

"I don't need this." Harmony grumbled, walking to the door of the library and trying the doorknob, only to realize that it was locked.

"I wouldn't bother trying to open it. It's locked shut, and I can't seem to remember where I left the key." Ariel said in a calm voice, as it boiled Harmony's anger even further. Fine. She'd resort to another measure.

"I'll just unlock it with my powers." The girl said triumphantly, as Ariel raised a brow in heavy skepticism.

"And risk waking everyone up?" Ariel asked, though on the inside she was amazed at how well she was doing with her daughter. Sure the girl hadn't talked to her, or even said a kind word, but she hadn't left yet. That was the key to this, because it meant that she wanted to talk, but she was afraid to.

"Damn it." Harmony said, crossing her arms over her chest in defiance to her mother, and sticking her head up as a sign she wasn't going to talk anytime soon. She didn't know the extent of her powers, and a simple unlock could result in the door being blown off its hinges. Then everyone would know that she'd come out of her room.

The girl was silent as she stared at her mother, and her mother calmly looked back at her, without a word. Harmony could be quiet, but sometimes there was just a bit _too _much quiet.

"What will it take for me to leave? Do I have to twirl around, or perfect my curtsey?!" Harmony finally exploded, her voice rising, though it was still quiet enough to not wake a soul. "Tell me _Mom_; tell me what I have to do to get out of here! I realize that I'm not the 'perfect' Harmony that you always dreamed of! I know that I'm just another teenage girl lost in the crowd; I know that no one loves me, that I'm just a stupid, stupid, little girl who dreamed of something more than her life in her small town! I know that I'm a witch; I know that I'm not the great daughter every mom is proud of! I know that I'm a freak show, that I'm just another weirdo in this screwed up planet! I know that I'm---you're not...yelling at me." Harmony said, stopping her quiet rant as her mind puzzled over it. Usually she was told to cut the drama show out, and grounded for being a drama queen.

"Why on earth would I yell at you?" Ariel's soft voice inquired, as she too puzzled over this. She hardly ever yelled, and when she was mad, Eric was the voice of reason calming her down. She'd certainly for sure knew that she'd never in her life yelled at her daughter. Chided, admonished, reprimanded, and warned, yes, but never yelled.

"Because." Harmony's even softer voice said as she furrowed her brows even more. "Because whenever I try to talk about what I feel like....I'm always yelled at for being a drama queen. And you're not....yelling me. Or even....saying that I'm grounded....you're just...._listening_." Harmony's voice was full of confusion, and hurt as she looked up at her mother.

"Of course I am." Ariel's gentle voice answered, as her daughter looked completely baffled at that. It occurred to Ariel then that, in her entire life with her adopted parents, Harmony had never had one of her parents actually _listen_ to her, and not brush it off as drama.

"W-Why would you do that? Listen to me, I mean." Harmony said, trying to stop her throat from tightening. No one had ever listened to her teenage feelings...unless it was something serious, like when she'd switched worlds and she kept remembering her old life, or when she said her story of what happened.

"Because you're my daughter."

* * *

**Reminder to self: When outside, never chase a squirell...because sometimes they chase you back. **


	24. Chapter 24

With that, Harmony burst into sobs and ran into her mother's arms, as Ariel consoled the young teen as best she could. Holding the girl tightly, Ariel let one of her hands stroke the girl's hair, in an effort to soothe her tears.

"Shh, I'm here. I'm right here honey, its okay. It's alright." Ariel murmured, as Harmony cried against her, the girl's tears staining Ariel's silk robe.

"I'm so scared." Harmony's whispered sob said, as she clutched onto her mother tightly. "Ryan's dead, my adopted parents hate me, and to top it off, I'm a _freak_. I'm---" Harmony's sobs were suddenly cut off by her mother.

"You're not a freak Harmony." Ariel's soft voice said, as Harmony looked up, at her mother through her tears. "Honey, you said before that you didn't know who you were; a princess, a witch, or a normal teenage girl. Harmony, your all of that and more, but that's what makes you special. Just like how Melody is called to the sea, you're called by different things, but it doesn't make you any less different than your sister." Ariel said in a soft voice, wiping some tears away from the girl's eyes with her thumb.

Harmony was silent as she leaned in against her mother, closing her eyes for a moment to think it through. In all her life, she'd never been called 'special'. Her kindergarten teacher would put a smiley face on her test and consider that a compliment in itself....but all her life she'd just been told she was average. Not great at sports, but not terrible. Not amazing in school, but not awful (before her first year in high school, of course). But to be special? That felt...different inside of her.

"No one's....ever said....I was...special." Harmony drawled out the words slowly, letting them sink into her mind as she sniffled. "Everyone's always said I was....just _average_." Harmony's slow words hit a nerve in Ariel, as she gathered her daughter tightly in her arms, remembering her own childhood. How many times had Attina told her stories about how her mother would say that all her girl's were special in their own way? How many times had she just _known_ she was different from her sisters?

"Average? That's not a word that should ever be used to describe you sweetheart. Harmony...I know you can never forget what you've seen, or what you've been through...and I know it's going to be tough to get through it all....but you'll figure out a way. You always do." Ariel's soft voice swept over her daughter, as the girl bit her lip, and wiped away her tears with the back of her sleeve.

"He's dead Mom. He's gone...I'm so scared...why did he have to die Mom? It's not fair....he was sixteen....I was supposed to go to his graduation....and now he'll never even be there." Harmony's sobs came back; as Ariel let her burrow her face into her robe, as she didn't even try to soothe her daughter. The girl needed to cry...to let it all out, and no small words weren't going to help. She'd seen her brother kill himself; in front of her very eyes...it was enough to scare anyone.

"Feeling better?" Ariel asked in a soft tone so she didn't alarm her daughter. The girl had gone so much for just fourteen years....she'd seen things that most fourteen year old girl's would have been destroyed completely by. But Harmony had somehow gotten past those obstacles, and now, she was facing the hardest one of her young life. The death of her brother. But she'd get through it....somehow.

"Not really. He's still dead...it's not like I can change that." Harmony said miserably, as she pulled her knees up to her flat chest. Honestly! Little baby 6th graders had more than she did! "But I'll have to try and...get used to it, I guess." Harmony's soft, almost bitter voice said, as Ariel nodded her head in understanding, even though in truth she didn't. Her mother had died when she'd been only five years old...any memories she had were from collected stories her older sisters had told her, and a bit of her imagination, so it wasn't as if death was common for her.

"It's late honey. You should sleep." Ariel's gentle voice said, as Harmony sighed, but nodded with exhaustion. That's when Ariel really took a look at her daughter. The girl had puffy eyes, and her face seemed as though it was permanently pink from all the crying she'd done. Plus there were dark bags under her eyes, a sign that she hadn't slept in awhile.

"Okay." Harmony said with a sigh, getting off the couch before realizing that the library door was locked. "The door is locked you know." She said to her mother, who gave her daughter a sheepish smile before shaking her head.

"No. It's not. It just gets a little stuck sometimes. Push hard on it and it will open." Ariel said, as a mix of emotions fell over her daughter's face, before the girl just shook her head and sighed, muttering something about where she got lying from under her breath.

Harmony was halfway out the library door, when she suddenly turned around and leaned against the door post, gazing at her mother warily. "Thanks." She said quickly, before disappearing from the lighted library, and hopefully back to her room.

* * *

**Alright, so i have an official 7 more minutes left on the computer--no, 6 so i have to sum this up quick. I know alot of you are wondering why Harmony would just take her mother back and be so forgiving after what Ariel did, but you have to realize that any bit of help offered Harmony isn't going to turn down, because she's scared and super confused. 5 more minutes! Must type fast! **

**xJadeRainx YOU MUST UPDATE FASTER, IT"S DRIVING ME INSANE! That is all. **

**Okay! A full four minutes to go! Maybe i can squeeze in some---no i can't, never mind. hehe. **

**REVIEW OR I WILL BREAK ALL YOUR NECKS! 3 MIN LEFT TO GO! REVIEW PEOPLE! **

**That is all. **


	25. Chapter 25

"Harmony... wake up....wake---what's this?" Eric's brows furrowed as she saw something clutched tightly in his daughter's hand. Eric had wanted to let his wife sleep in this morning after she'd spent half the night comforting and waiting for their daughter. The girl murmured a sound to signify she was awake, but didn't care enough to stop her father from opening her hand.

"Cigarettes?" Eric's confused voice questioned, as he looked closely at the tiny box he held in his hand. He knew what a cigar was, of course....but a cigarette? Didn't that mean 'small cigar' in French? Why would Harmony have a 'small cigar'? Unless...

"Harmony Althea!" Eric practically shouted, as Harmony looked up groggily from her pillow, still not understanding what all the fuss was about.

"What did you just call me?" Harmony asked, in a confused tone, rubbing her swollen eyes as she propped herself up on one elbow. Last night was a blur of tears and confusion to Harmony. She remembered her conversation with her mother....and remembered running back to her room and taking a smoke, to calm her down at little.

"Althea is your middle name." Eric explained in an impatient tone, as he grabbed his daughter's arm roughly in anger and sat her up fully. "What is this?!" He almost yelled, holding up the small box for his daughter to see as realization started to kick in.

"A box of cigarettes." Harmony yawned, her groggy mind still not fully grasping the situation that she was in.

"I realize that." Eric said with clenched teeth, trying not to let too much of his anger seep into his daughter. "What I meant was, why do you have it?" Eric's teeth were clenched so much in rage that his daughter was smoking, that Harmony's eyes widened as she finally realized what a predicament she was in. She'd been caught. Stupid, stupid, stupid. She should have hidden the pack when she came back, like she always did!

"I....um....uh....was....uh....holding it...for a friend." Harmony said, not willing to meet her father's eyes as she bit her lip and looked down at her sheets, waiting for the yelling to start. It was a weak lie, and she knew no one would ever fall for such a thin lie. Maybe the heat what had been happening the few past days was getting to her.

"You were smoking them, weren't you?" Eric yelled, as Harmony winced, and bit her lip harder, so hard in fact, that she could taste blood, which in all truth didn't taste that bad.

"Not that many." Harmony whispered softly, as her father roared with anger at that. Suddenly, she was taken back to when she'd seen her brother....and her adopted father was _screaming _at her. It had started out bad, but then....then he punched her. Hard too. And her puffy/almost swollen shut from the tears/black eye looked awful, she knew.

"Don't you know what these can do to you?! Harmony these things can kill you! This has got to be the most irresponsible, reckless, careless, total disregard for your own health, scatterbrained---" Eric stopped his tirade when he suddenly didn't see a cocky teenager staring back at him. Instead, he saw a little girl pressed up against her pillows, and hugging a teddy bear so tightly against her that it looked as though the thing would explode from the hug. Her entire face was scared beyond belief, cowering into her pillow's every time Eric breathed.

"What are you doing?" Eric asked in a tightly controlled gentler tone, as he reached out a hand to his daughter, a test. The girl flinched at it; recoiling so far back in her pillows that the pillows weren't even big and fluffy anymore. They were just flat from the pressure she was putting on them.

"Please....don't hit me." Harmony asked in a cracked soft voice, as she saw her father reach out once again to touch her, and again she flinched without realizing it.

"Harmony, I'm not going to hit you." Eric said in an even tone, though his shock was boiling inside him. She thought he was going to hurt her! He would never do such a thing to one of his daughters! "I wouldn't even dream of hurting you like that, why would you think such a thing?" Eric's voice was getting back to normal, he knew, and he wanted it to stay that way. He didn't need his daughter getting hysterical again, not while Ariel was still sleeping. He loved his daughter to pieces, but when it came to things like, being hysterical and weeping on and on and on...well, he _was_ only a father after all!

"I-I've been hit before..." Harmony whispered softly, as Eric's eyes grew in alarm at what his daughter said. She'd been hit before? Before what had happened to her brother? How could he have let his daughter go off with someone who hit her! Who made her fear even the slightest touch!

"Smoking is dangerous for you. It's been known to kill, and I'm not willing to take that risk with you Harmony. Not after losing you for so long." Eric said in a gentle voice, steering the subject away from her fears. He'd let Ariel talk about that with his daughter, because she would know how to do bring up the subject gently, unlike Eric who would most likely just rush right into it and find himself tangled up in words.

"I know...it's bad. We learned all about them in Health class....but it calms me down. It's better than cutting....and it's _my_ body." Eric repressed a grin as he could definitely hear some of that cocky teenager come back into Harmony's tone.

"It's not that much better than cutting Harmony. You're still putting yourself at risk to die if you smoke, just like if you cut." Eric said gently, though he knew his daughter would pursue the subject and debate this with him 'till the end of time. She was like her mother, once an idea was in her stubborn head, it was hard to get it out.

"It's still _my_ body." Harmony mumbled, but reluctantly handed her father's outstretched hand the other packet that was under her pillow. Besides, there was always that one that she had in her book bag.....

"But you're my daughter. And I'm not going to let you slowly kill yourself." Eric answered firmly, as Harmony's eyes fell down, a bit angrily. Let her be as angry as she wants, Eric thought to himself. He was doing the right thing for his daughter. "Give me the other one Harmony." He said, as he saw her eyes flicker towards her book bag. With a sigh, the girl got up and opened up her book bag, and handed her father her last cigarette. Or so he thought.

"Get dressed and come downstairs for breakfast. I'm going to throw these away." Eric said, as he walked out of his daughter's room, feeling a little pleased at himself. He'd managed to survive the almost tears, and the cocky attitude, and take the cigar-sticks away from her, all in one hour.

As Harmony heard the door close to her room, she grinned and ran to her secret stash, for emergency purposes only. Well, this was an emergency enough. She wasn't going to come down to breakfast, not with how _her_ face was looking, but she needed something to take the edge off of her.

Grabbing a cigarette, Harmony stepped outside into the cold breeze that made her shiver and wish she'd grabbed something warm. Still....what if it had caught fire when she was smoking? Sighing, Harmony lit her cigarette with the flame used by her powers, and took a deep inhale of the toxic chemicals that would slowly kill her.

At least then she could stop seeing the nightmare replay over, and over, and over in her mind.

* * *

**I am like, unbelievabley tired. I'm going to sleep. Review, i talk more in the next chapter. Yawn. **


	26. Chapter 26

"Mhm. Morning." Ariel's voice said, as she swept over to give her husband a light peck on the cheek. He was sitting at his desk in the study, looking over some papers, but when he noticed Ariel was awake, he pushed them aside to grin at her.

"Well, well, well. Looks as if Sleeping Beauty finally woke up." He teased, as Ariel smiled, a bit groggily, at him.

"Only because _someone_ didn't wake me up like they were supposed to." Ariel teased right back, as Eric's grin turned into a smile, as he pulled Ariel in to him so that she was sitting on his lap.

"I wonder who this 'someone' could be. He might just steal my little mermaid from right under me...." Eric teased to his wife, as she rolled her eyes and playfully hit him on the shoulder.

"You're horrible." Ariel said, in an attempt to be serious. She only succeeded in her attempt for a few seconds though before breaking out in a laugh that was music to her husband's ears.

"Maybe you'll change your opinion of me after _this_." Eric caught his wife off guard as she noticed his lips against hers within seconds. Though, not to be outdone, Ariel kissed him right back, letting that warm glow of love envelope her until finally she needed air.

"Still horrible." Ariel teased, out of breath, but smiling so her husband knew that she was just being playful. With a grin, Eric winked at his wife before she rolled her eyes again at him, and gently slid off his lap.

"Where are the girls?" She wondered, as she leaned against the desk, her brows raised at the question. Though, she knew Eric would know what she really meant by that question. Where was Harmony? Was she outside with Melody, or still inside with her room still locked?

"She's upstairs, in her room." Eric answered, before taking in a breathe and reviewing what exactly had happened this morning. From him finding her cigarettes, to the girl had once again, and locked herself in her room. Though Ariel said not a word through all of this, Eric noticed that her expression got more worried by the second for her daughter.

He knew that Ariel had been stressed lately, what with trying to run a kingdom with her husband, making sure her older daughter was staying sane, and somehow making time to spend with her younger daughter so that the girl didn't feel so forgotten. Ariel needed a break, Eric mused to himself silently. With so much going on, she hadn't taken time for herself in so long...though it's not as if she'd complained at all about it. Eric just _knew_ though that she needed some type of break from all the stress, if only for one day.

"I'll go talk to her." Ariel sighed, blinking away her early morning grogginess. No, there was no time in her life to be groggy anymore. She wished that Harmony wasn't here anymore, that it was just her, Eric, Melody, and she had no stress or worries. No, don't think like that, her mind scolded itself. You should be grateful that Harmony is in your life at all, after losing her for twelve straight years. Still....Ariel wished that her daughter wasn't so high maintenance nowadays.

"No, you shouldn't." Eric countered, as Ariel's expression turned from worried, to downright stressed. "Ariel, you're under a lot of pressure. Let's just take the day off, the two of us, and go to the meadow, or go ice skating. Anything you want to do, but let's just relax." Eric said to his wife, as she sighed at shook her head, red hair spilling everywhere.

"Eric....we can't do that. We have a kingdom to run, the girl's, and Harmony---" Ariel was cut off by one of Eric's fingers pressing against her lips, as he stood up so that he could have a better eye level with her.

"The kingdom," he said with a mischievous grin working on the corners of his mouth, "can go screw itself. The girl's are at an age where they don't need us to hover over them for every second, and we can deal with Harmony when we get back. But right now, let's just take a break, relax, have some _us_ time." Eric said, as Ariel felt him place his hands on her waist, though she was more intent on staring into his eyes.

"Eric....Harmony's hurting right now. I just--_can't_. I'm sorry." Ariel said in a soft sorry voice, before disentangling herself from Eric and biting her lip as she walked out of the study. It was taking all she had and more not to run back to her husband and do whatever today with him.

"Ouch." Eric said to himself, as his face and hopes fell with just one word from Ariel. Just one day where he didn't have the worries of being a father, and making sure that his kingdom was running smoothly. Just one day where Ariel wasn't already frazzled by midday, and ready to crack at just one word from anyone by evening. Just one day where he could spend the entire day with her, and not have anything but her on his mind. Just one day....

Looking at the papers on his desk, he scowled heavily at them. If it wasn't for his kingdom, he wouldn't have half of his worries. If it wasn't for Ariel having children, he wouldn't be a father and would still be happily married to her as if they were still newlyweds. But then looking out at the door that Ariel had walked out of, Eric knew who the _real_ culprit of making his relationship with his wife tense was. The one thing that just couldn't resolve itself, and no matter how many times he tried, he couldn't get over it. The one thing that just kept having problems one after another, after another, after another. The one thing that started to make his blood boil.

The witch.

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**Ouch. That's gotta hurt. I wonder if he'll explode....and I wonder if Ariel will too....well, as long as you keep pressing the little button that says Review, i shall be happy to let you know. And also, as long as xJadeRainx stops making me think when im not in school, and updates faster. If any of you read this, protest on her reviews like i've done, about how making a child think when they're not in school is child labor. Why? I don't really know why it's child labor. But i do know what should be considered child labor! Making us children walk up two flights of stairs while carrying HUGE boxes filled to the top, with what else?, year books. Damn you elevator for breaking down when i needed you most! **


	27. Chapter 27

"Can I come in?" A soft voice inquired, as a knuckle knocked against the door. The answer came within a few moments, but it was more like a rushed, out of breathe, almost as if the person within had been running before they answered.

"Um, yeah, sure." The voice said, as the girl who owned the voice quickly stashed her box of cigarettes under her bed, just as the door opened. Standing in the doorway was her mother, a bit worried looking, as she came to sit by her daughter on the girl's bed.

"You have to come downstairs sometime Harmony." Ariel's gentle voice said, as her daughter gave an impatient sigh, and shook her head as hard as she possibly could, her red locks bouncing as she did.

"Just to be hated even more? Yeah right." Harmony snorted, sighing as she amused herself with having a small air tornado form in her hand. She'd managed to get some control over her power through doing little spells that needed concentration to work.

"Harmony....everyone's long forgotten about that. Just come downstairs and eat something. Then you can stay in the library and be a hermit for as long as you like." Ariel said, exhaustion from her stress finally setting in, and visibly showing to her daughter. Ariel might have slept in this morning, but with everything lately, she knew that it wasn't long till she broke. Either she'd start yelling, or burst into tears, but she was near her mental breaking point now, it was only a matter of time.

"No offense Mom, but you said that last time about the ball....and it wasn't one of my best nights. I don't want to go downstairs." Harmony said firmly, as her mother sighed heavily.

"Please Harmony?" Ariel's soft, exhausted voice asked, as the girl shook her head once again, and Ariel sighed. She wasn't going to argue with the unwilling teen now, no, she'd just let the girl be. Maybe tomorrow she'd come out of her room.

"Fine." Ariel said, with another sigh, as she got off the girl's bed. "I'll be in the study, with your father if you need me." Ariel said in a soft voice still, as Harmony refused to even look up at her mother. When the door finally shut, Harmony took her secret stash of a cigarette box from out of her bed, and put it under her pillow instead. That way she'd know she was sleeping on it and that it was safe.

Looking out the window, Harmony sighed heavily before getting up and out of her bed, and walking out into the balcony. The cold air immediately had her switch her nightgown, for a pair of jeans and a heavy coat in seconds out in the balcony. Much better, Harmony thought to herself softly, but she wasn't in any mood to laugh. Not while she'd been disowned by her adopted parents, seen her brother kill himself, and knew that her real parents were getting fed up with her just staying in her room really quick.

But if they could only know what she'd been through, what she'd seen, the nightmares it caused. It wasn't just about a few nights ago what happened, no, these were nightmares that kept reappearing and showing a girl inside of a tiny jail cell, with two evil witches laughing at her, a brother repeatedly stabbing himself, and all her family just walking away from her, no matter how much she cried out to them not to, they always did. _That_ was what she saw when she closed her eyes.

So many things had gone wrong with her life, Harmony thought to herself a bit sadly, as she closed her eyes and let the wind brush her tears away. So many things that should have never happened, had happened to her, and it was hurting on the inside so badly. Her parents would never understand how she battled her inner demons every day, and how much pain she was always in. They would never understand because she had no way to tell them that what they had done to her, the mistakes they had said and done, and caused suicide to be a recurring whisper in her mind. Something that no matter how many times she tried to push past, it kept on haunting her.

"Don't think. Forget." Harmony whispered to herself, as she closed her eyes and tried to shut down her mind. That's when a crazy, and possibly suicidal idea formed in her mind. Something that she'd been meaning to try for weeks, but with what had happened.....

Do it, chicken, her mind taunted itself, as Harmony slowly gripped the railing on her balcony as hard as she could, and lifted one leg over the rail. Slowly and deliberately, she lifted the other leg over, and pulled her butt up to the rail so that she was sitting on it. Looking down, she knew that it was a long fall that would immediately kill her, but she was willing to take that risk. Even more slowly than before, and with her heart beating so loud that Harmony was sure China could hear it, she stood on the rail, balanced for the moment.

Her feet were precariously balanced actually. A gust of wind would immediately push her off and she would fall to her death. But the view from here was amazing. The sea it seemed, couldn't have been bluer that day, and the sky was equally amazing, with light, puffy clouds. It looked like something out of a painting, a storybook, things never looked this---

A strong gust of wind suddenly caught Harmony off guard, and for a few moments, she was waving her arms, as she tried to regain her balance on the railing. She was leaning towards the edge, she saw, and another gust of wind take away whatever balance she'd had regained.

Falling forward, Harmony's eyes filled with terror as she realized she was doomed.

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**OH NO! SHIT! WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO HER?!**


	28. Chapter 28

She pitched forward and suddenly, the ground was coming closer to her at an amazing speed. Heart stopping fear pounded in her chest as she closed her eyes tightly, waiting for the impact of her hitting the ground. Goodbye world, Harmony thought silently, not daring to open her eyes as she knew that she was a second away from hitting the cold hard ground.

It was about a minute later that Harmony hesitantly opened one eye, because she didn't know why she hadn't hit the ground yet. She was about two inches from the ground, literally, her nose was touching the grass, but that's not what made her take in a breath. She was _floating_ in mid air. Her eyes went wide as she realized this, and a small smile crossed her lips as she straightened up in the air....and shot up through the clouds.

Laughing joyously at the feeling of flying, Harmony extended her arms as she zoomed in and out of clouds, feeling like an airplane. This was wonderful! Oh how could she have not done this before?! Flying through the sky, as if she was a bird! Laughing again, she swept down close to the sea, where she was skimming the water. Who knew if she was far away from the castle or not? Who cared, her mind said as a laugh escaped her lips.

Shooting up higher in the air, Harmony spun around in the sky, feeling wonderful with this new feeling of flight. Better than an airplane, her mind said as another carefree laugh escaped her lips, better than anything! The feeling of flying made her feel so alive, so thrilling, so wonderful!

"Hi Scuttle!" Harmony laughed, as she flew past the bird. He stared at her, beak dropped as her realized she was flying, but Harmony only laughed and kept flying, up, up, and away! To infinity and beyond! Oh who knew where she would go if she could fly like this!

Laughing, she skimmed the water again, so close that she could literally see her reflection in the water, she dipped a finger into the still water, letting it create ripples in the blue stillness, and causing her to laugh as she shot up again, into the clouds, far above the land. Twirling around in the cloud, she giggled out of her excitement, before looking at the sun. Already sunset! Had she really spent hours upon hours flying around? Shaking her red hair, she smiled, as she flew back to her room.

The balcony door was still open, like she'd left it, Harmony noticed as she landed on the balcony rail easily. Jumping off, she giggled as she realized that this was the most fun she'd had in days!

With a small grin to herself, she walked into her room, and quickly shut the French doors of her balcony tight, so it wasn't so cold in the room anymore. Sitting on her bed, Harmony looked towards her door for a moment, contemplating if she should go downstairs or not. She _was_ hungry.....biting her lip, she got up from her bed, and went up to the door, putting her hand on the knob uncertainly.

That's when memories started rushing back to her at a speed that literally made her stumble backwards. Being pushed around, the sounds of her dress breaking, her sobs reaching her ears, Ryan stabbing himself, her father tearing apart her room, her mother sending her to the dungeon, it was all so fast....so horrible.

Harmony curled into a little ball on the floor as she rocked herself back and forth, trying hard not to cry. A few minutes ago she was having fun, soaring through the sky, going in and out of clouds....and now she was curled in a fetal position on the floor, her blue eyes filled with pain that none could imagine. It was official alright:

Her 'Happily Ever After' would never come.

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**That's just downright depressing. She was having a wonderful time soaring through the clouds, something she deserved after so long, but in the end it didn't matter because her memories haunted her to the point of tears. Next few chapters are going to be good, so keep reviewing and i'll post soon!**


	29. Chapter 29

It was at least midnight, and Harmony was still awake, when she heard a soft, barely audible knock on her door, and then the slow creaking as it opened. In the doorway stood Melody, nightgown and all, as she looked at her twin who was tossing a ball up with one hand as she was already lying down in bed.

"Come on." Melody said in a hushed tone, running to her sister, and grabbing her arm to start pulling at it. Harmony looked at her twin with confusion, as she sat up and shook her arm off of her.

"What?" Harmony whispered in the still room, as her sister rolled her eyes and kept tugging at her arm.

"I want you to come to the beach with me. Let's sneak out, have fun, please. You need it." Melody said to her twin as Harmony looked at the girl like she was crazy. But it was that strong pleading in her eyes that caught Harmony, as she slowly nodded and got up from her bed.

"Let me just get a stick, 'k?" Harmony said, as Melody gave her a confused look, but nodded all the same. It was obvious that she didn't understand what her sister meant, or why she was searching under her pillow for something, but the girl decided not to ask any questions about the small box in Harmony's hand.

"Follow me." Melody's barely audible whisper said, as she slipped out of her sister's door. Harmony followed on her tiptoes, passing the halls, and even her parents room (though, there she was so quiet that it would be impossible for them to hear her) and out to the beach. When finally the girls were far enough away from the castle, Melody laughed light heartedly and twirled around in the sand. Harmony only watched her with not so much interest, as she sighed.

"Pssht! Over here!" A voice called from the water, and Harmony's face paled as she was suddenly taken back to when Undertow had called to her from the water. Harmony was about to tell her sister to go, and run away from here, when she noticed Melody was already waist deep in water, her lantern lighting up the face of....a mergirl?

"Coral!" Melody squealed, as she hugged her cousin thirteen year old cousin. Coral's eyes traveled to the form of Harmony, who was standing in the sand awkwardly, not knowing whether to go in, or to stay where she was.

"Harmony, right?" Coral guessed the girl's name, though she'd never actually seen her cousin before. She'd heard bits and pieces about this girl from the adult conversations of her family, but never more than that.

"Um....yeah." Harmony gulped down her---well, whatever she'd last eaten---before still staring at the mergirl in the water.

It's not like she didn't like Atlantica, on the contrary, she thought it was very pretty....but actually going to it was a different story. She hated being a mermaid, the sense of only one tail, instead of two sturdy legs that could support her weight as she would run and climb on the monkey bars.

"I'm Coral....we're like, cousins." Coral said, with no small amount of happiness in her voice. So this was the famous Harmony! The girl who'd battled two witches, and won, and then finding out herself as a witch!

"Um...okay." Harmony said, as she slid into the water, wincing almost at how cold it was. But Coral and Melody seemed to take no notice, as they looked as though they were totally comfy in the ice cold water.

"Is it true you're a witch?!" Coral blurted out finally, as Harmony shrugged as snapped her fingers, creating a fire in the palm of her hand. Coral gasped at the simple move, as Melody grinded her teeth together. This night wasn't supposed to be about Harmony, it was supposed to be about finding out what was happening down in Atlantica from her cousin.

"Harmony, I heard from Dad that you smoke....is that what the box in your hand is? Give me one!" Melody ordered, as a puzzled Harmony turned to her, and shook her head as hard as she could.

"Mel, I'm trying to quit smoking because it's not good for me. And I only do it so I don't cut myself every time I see the nightmare of my brother killing himself....I'm not giving you anything. Sorry." Harmony said with full sincerity in her voice, as Coral watched the scene play in front of her, actually understanding every word that was being said. From all of her family in Atlantica, she was the one that was most in terms with humans, since she was so close to her cousin and was very curious.

"That's a lie. Give me one or I'll take it myself." Melody hissed, wanting the attention to focus back on her. Maybe if she showed Coral that she smoked, she'd forget about stupid Harmony and pay attention to Melody.

"No, I'm not going to let you start smoking, then get addicted like I did. Trust me, it only takes one to get you hooked." Harmony answered her sister, with as much authority as a fourteen year old could have. Melody cursed under her breathe, before pushing her sister. The girl was caught off guard by this, and stumbled in the water, while loosening her hand enough so that all Melody had to do was grab the box from her.

"Now to light it." Melody said with a triumphant smile to herself, as she opened the lantern up, to get to the candle. Putting the small cigar to the flame like she'd seen others do before, she got it lit and put it to her mouth. But she made the mistake of inhaling all of the smoke first, and started a coughing fit like no other. Deep, hacking coughs that tore through her body.

"Your not supposed to inhale when you smoke. It makes you cough a lot." Harmony's quiet voice said, as Melody shot her a hard look as she clutched her abdomen where she could most feel the coughs coming from.

"We should go. If our parent's find us out here...." Coral let the thought trail off as Harmony and Melody nodded to the idea, with Melody mostly shooting a glare at Harmony for not telling her about inhaling smoke.

"Too late." Two voices from the shadows of the night said, and as all the girl's gasped.

And as the figures of the people who had just spoken started to come into the light, they realized that it was....

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**Alright i have 30 more minutes on the computer, lemme see if i can squeeze in another chapter. REVIEW!**


	30. Chapter 30

"Mom!" All the girl's gasped, as they saw their mothers before them, amusement mixed with disapproving written on both Attina and Ariel's faces.

"Coral what in Poseidon are you doing here?!" Attina's voice rang out first, as Coral gulped, but even with that her throat was still dry. She'd been caught by her mother! How could she not be afraid.

"The same goes for you too, Melody and Harmony." Ariel said, narrowing her blue eyes at her own girl's, as Melody trembled at her mother's tone. She only used that tone when she was mad....

"It's not their fault, I told them to come here!" Harmony blurted, as both mother's took their eyes of their daughters and focused only on her. What are you doing Harmony, her mind wondered, but she kept herself firm, trying not to show the heart stopping fear that was pounding in her chest. "I blackmailed them to come here. And then I told them I would tell everyone the blackmail I had against them, unless they tried to smoke. It's all my fault; they had nothing to do with coming here. Punish me, not them." Harmony lied smoothly, as her heart started pounding so hard that it seemed as though both mother's could hear it as the exchanged glances.

Attina's glance was of uncertainly at how valid Harmony's story was, because, after all, how many times had she done the same for her own sisters when they were younger? But Ariel's glance was of a slow understanding, as she turned to Melody, who it was well known that she couldn't lie.

"Melody, is this true?" Ariel asked, in a gentler tone, as Melody's gaze was directed at the sand and nothing else. Slowly, the girl's head nodded, along with Coral's head, though both their hearts were already starting to show guilt at the lie they'd just said.

"Alright then. You two go back to the castle, _now_. Harmony, wait in your room. We're going to have a little talk." Ariel's voice was deadly, as Melody trembled at her mother's words, but Harmony stayed completely calm, grabbing her sister's hand and half dragging her back the castle.

"Coral." Attina's deadly voice was the next to say, as the mergirl immediately understood and gasped in fear before disappearing under the waves, going back the to castle herself to await a talk from her mother.

"Teenagers?" Ariel asked softly to her older sister, who nodded ruefully at her sister's words.

"Teenagers." Attina said with a sorry smile, before disappearing under the waves herself to make sure her own thirteen year old daughter was going back to the castle, and not swimming off somewhere.

"Alright, listen to me Melody. No matter what they say, remember that it's all my fault that you were out there, and that I blackmailed you to smoke." Harmony's calm and collected voice said, as she dragged her sister into the castle. Melody and Coral had never been punished for doing something so wrong before; it would crush them in one blow. But Harmony had been punished worse than this before by her adopted parents....she knew how to handle punishments better than they did. Plus, she was the oldest. She had to take responsibility, even if it wasn't her fault.

"Wh-why are you doing this?" Melody asked in a quiet tone of voice, as she realized she was almost at her room. Definitely her father would be waiting in the hall if her mother was up.

"Because you're my sister." Harmony answered, as she got to the hall and saw her fuming father in the hallway. His mouth opened and closed a few times when he saw his daughter's come in, half soaked. Harmony though, skillfully weaved around him, and into her room, before letting out a huge sigh because she knew what was going to happen now.

There were quiet voices talking in the hallway all of a sudden, and if Harmony strained her hearing, she could hear the words 'Harmony' 'blackmail' and 'smoke'. Closing her eyes for a moment and bracing herself, the girl looked up as her room door was opened, revealing two angry parents.

"Give it to me." Eric's poisonous voice said, as he shut his daughter's door behind him and extended his hand out. Harmony stared at the hand for a moment, not knowing what he meant by it, and looked up at him in confusion.

"Give you what exactly?" Harmony questioned slowly, as her father's face turned even angrier.

"All of the damn cigarettes! I want every single one, _now_." Eric yelled, as Harmony winced, and pressed her back up against the wall.

"I-I don't have anymore." Well, that was half true. The cigarettes that Melody now had was her last box, her secret stash of them, but she knew her parents wouldn't believe her. And they didn't.

"Where are they?! Give them to me now or I swear to god Harmony..." Ariel's voice was deadly, acidic, something a tone that Harmony wasn't familiar with. She'd been yelled at and hit before, yes, but at adopted parents had never used a tone so....awful, until....they'd kicked her out.

"I don't have any." Harmony said calmly, as fire seemed to blow of out her mother's nose. Stick up for the Kat, her mind kept whispering, do it. You can handle a little yelling, and it's not like they can kick you out.

When Harmony's refusal to give up her cigarette's came to reach Ariel's ears.....she just cracked. All the stress, all the worries, everything that had been happening these past few days finally got to her...and like a child sticking a needle into a balloon, she popped.

"Fine! If you won't tell me then-then get out!" Ariel screamed at her daughter. The room became silent, no one dare take a breath as the words hung in the air. A chilling breeze flowed through the room; no one shivered. One face though had a tear run down her face, as the person tried to get a grip on reality.

"W-what?" Harmony's voice was almost painful to hear, but with both her parent's who had reached their breaking points already, she knew there was no hope. That's it. She was being sent to the street....sent to live like a beggar. From riches and crappy life, to rags and crappy-er life.

"Everything with you is a drama show isn't it?" Eric spat out, as Harmony's eyes still stayed focused on the ground, wincing at how this was going. "Every little thing in this world makes you cry. So what if you saw your brother kill himself?! For god's sake, DEAL WITH IT. And then you cut yourself, 'because it takes away the pain' well, how about the pain of your parents dealing with YOU." Eric's voice was filled with so much death and coldness that Harmony almost fell to her knees at it.

"I-I don't u-understand." Harmony whispered, bringing her blue eyes to look at her parents. "Y-You w-were the o-ones who-who locked me i-in jail! And then Ryan....he w-was my big brother...you don-don't want m-me to be sad th-that he's d-dead?" Harmony's painful whisper was hurting her more than her parents, as Ariel's same blue eyes narrowed at her *scoff* daughter.

"I think it's pretty obvious what we want." Ariel said coldly, rage consuming her every move, every gesture, every action. The girl had tried to give Melody cigarettes! To make her start smoking, to make her _die_! She'd blackmailed her cousin, she'd blackmailed her sister, she'd been smoking....no wonder her other parents had kicked her out. "And the door, is right there." Ariel voice was a challenge, to see if Harmony would dare talk back to her, to plead with her to stay at the castle---which no matter what she wasn't going to do. Let her die in the streets for all Ariel cared! She had no business being here anyway. All she'd done tear apart the once tight nit family.

"Okay." Harmony said softly, extending her hand. In a second her teddy bear Poppy was in her hand, as she bit her lip and looked up at her parents, tears in her eyes. "Goodbye...forever." Her words were no more than a whisper, as she turned on her heel and started to run as fast as her feet could carry her too---nowhere. She had no place to go, no place to call home, no parents who loved her.....

No matter what, she was now an orphan.


	31. Chapter 31

It took Ariel and Eric all of two minutes to realize fully what they had done, and to immediately run out of their daughter's room to stand in the hall, not understanding what they were seeing. Nothing. That was it. Harmony was....gone.

"Eric...she's--again--we're awful parents, aren't we?" Ariel's broken and strangled voice reached her husband's ears, as he stared down the hallway. They had just kicked at fourteen year old girl out, all because of some stupid sneaking out. Maybe she'd blackmailed Melody, but that was no reason to her to leave. She was....fourteen. Her brother had just killed himself in front of her own eyes, she'd been sent to the dungeon, she'd been kicked out...her world must be, literally, falling down upon her. How could they have been so stupid! She was confused! Scared, unknowing.....and she was out there all alone now, in god knows what world.

"We are."

"Don't worry Poppy, I'll make sure we go somewhere were they'll never hurt us again." Harmony whispered comfortingly to her bear, as she ran fast in the dark night. "Just you and me now old buddy, but we'll be alright. I mean, they've taken away my dignity, my happiness, my home, and broken my heart....but at least I still have you." Harmony whispered to the bear, as she finally came upon it. Woods.

Using her hand for light, she didn't fear for her life as most girls would in this situation. Instead, she was _welcoming _death, hoping it would come to her. Death would be better than knowing that out of the two families that you though cared about you, and loved you....that they didn't.

Shaking her head away from that though, Harmony focused on her objective as her bare feet bled from the sharp rocks that jutted out of the cold snow. She knew from a few exploring ventures here in the woods there was an old, tiny shack, just big enough for her to fit it. With her heart set high, Harmony aimed for the spot where she knew the shack would be. These woods were far enough away from the palace and village that no one would bother even caring about where she was, and she could live out the rest of her days happily as a hick. Maybe one day she'd be able to go back...but then again, maybe one day she'd be able to finally wake up from this nightmare.

"Here it is Poppy." Harmony announced proudly, before actually looking at the shack. Or, what used to be a shack that is. Instead of wood hastily nailed together in a shape that kind of resembled a home, there was only in it's place rotting wood that was all over the snowy ground covered with tiny creatures.

"Great. Could this day get any worse God?!" Harmony shouted to the sky, as her anger and tears finally stet in. "Hm?! What else you got up your sleeve for me? A bear that woke up from hibernation?! Or how about vultures!" Harmony yelled at the top of her lungs, as suddenly, a pouring of snow fell from the sky. But not gentle snow falling onto the earth and kids running out to play, no, this was snow smacking into her face, making her fall back on her butt.

"A snowstorm." The girl muttered to herself bitterly, before looking back up. "Really?! Is this some kind of sick joke?! Because I'm laughing so hard, look at me! I'm so lol-ing right now! Hahahahahahahha! See! I'm laughing!" Harmony shouted to the sky once again, before dropping to her knees in exhaustion and pain. Using her cold arms as a shield against her body, Harmony couldn't even open her mouth to say the spell to keep her warm without getting a mouthful of dirty snow.

So, she curled into a little ball, her thin nightgown serving as her only protection against the elements that kept pounding against her. Hugging her bear to her chest, Harmony shivered so much that it just became like a blanket to her, keeping her body moving and therefore .00001% warm, or at least, that's what it felt like. And as she shivered on the ground, curled into a ball, the girl cried tears to herself to try and keep her face warm.

But even her tears were ice.

* * *

**Crap, i'm bawling. How could they! I don't care if they regret it! Harmony did nothing wrong, hell, she even TOOK THE BLAME for her sister and cousin, and yet she was still kicked out. **

**Alright, so a few quick things: **

**1. For the story Ocean Heart, i haven't been able to review because my computer is screwing with me and won't let me. So i'll just do it now! **

**Loved how Hali wasn't dressed and Xavier was totally embarrassed! And OHMYFUCKINGOD i started to laugh uncontrolably (and i don't know why) when Xavier's father called him a lazy boy! It seemed so ironic, considering that he was just about to get to first base and all with Hali, the PRINCESS! I wonder what Eric and Ariel will say when she comes back inside....*hm* possibly along the lines of 'Converse r Life is teh coolest writer eva and all of yiz shuld bow down to her superior smarticalness'. I think that would be an accurate statement! Lol, gr8 chap as always, and if you guys that haven't read Ocean Heart yet, i advise you to do it because really, it's turning out to be a good story, once you get passed all the french, and big words like 'the'. **

**REVIEW MAH STORAH! (Review my story, in weirdness language!) **


	32. Chapter 32

Harmony woke up to the sound of sniffing. At first, she thought groggily that she was still back in the palace, with Max somehow breaking into her room and sniffing her. But as she started to open her eyes, and blink away the sleepiness in them, she didn't see a shaggy monster of a dog anxiously panting for her to wake up, no she saw a pair of eyes.....shrouded in black. Like a black mask that went over it's eyes, and only it's eyes.

Yelping in surprise, she sat up, as the animal backed up, away from her in even more surprise. A raccoon, her mind told her, but her body did nothing but stare at it. She'd never been this close to a wild animal before...and she wasn't sure she liked it all that much either.

"Um...go away! That way, leave me alone!" Harmony said, trying to scare off the raccoon with her arms. Accidenlty, while trying to shoo the animal away, Harmony pushed the animal, feeling it with her actual hands. The raccoon didn't like that one bit as he jumped back and gave out a low growl to the shivering, soaking, cold girl.

"Go away?" Harmony tried again, this time without so much enthusiasm to get the animal to leave her alone. But the raccoon only growled again, going on the offensive now as it started to jump from left to right, thinking that Harmony was another type of predator that was going to eat him.

Then, without warning, it jumped on Harmony, its nails digging into her arm as it sunk it's teeth in deeply.

"Ouch!" Harmony yelped in pain, as she struggled hard not to scream out from the shock and pain. A raccoon was biting into her arm, tearing off her sleeve of her nightgown, as it tightly fastened itself against her arm, so no matter how many times she tried to shake it off, it refused to move and only bit deeper into her arm.

"Prediout oinea hyiea znoie!" Harmony said the spell with closed eyes and gasped breathes to keep from screaming out in pain. If she did, the village would certainly here her, and she didn't really want to be found all alone by people who hated her guts. Gulping, Harmony opened one eye cautiously to look at the raccoon. It was gone. Where she'd sent it, she had no idea, but she was glad she had, from looking at her arm.

About a length of four inches, her the skin was all raw with blood. Scratch and bite marks could be seen all around, as Harmony cursed under her breath her good fortune. Tearing a piece of cloth from her soaking, dirty, freezing, and ragged nightgown, Harmony managed to clean up the wound pretty well for someone with no medical experience beyond Barbie band-aids. She teared off another piece of her nightgown then, a bigger rag from the one before, and tied it around her arm. Though the bites and scratches stung like hell, Harmony still moved her arm around before deeming herself in good shape.

"See Poppy? All better." Harmony said with fake cheer in her voice, before gathering her also soaking and cold bear in her arms. The coldness of him made her arms immediately repel, not wanting to add to the already freezing state she was in, but she stayed firm, and held him against her chest as she sat on the ground and traced her finger through the snow.

She was shivering uncontrollably now, she realized, but didn't care. Her chattering teeth was her lullaby, as she said to herself the words that she knew were true. She'd just been too blind to see it, but no more.

"Faith, trust...love? Those are just words from stupid childish stories, they don't mean _anything._" The girl said, as she shook in the freezing weather and pulled herself closer together to stop the cold from biting at her.

"_I am not a child now.  
I can take care of myself.  
I mustn't let see me down now.  
I mustn't let them see me cry.  
I'm fine, I'm fine.  
_

Sure she didn't have a family, or a warm home, or even a friend in the world, not since John had moved away, but everything was...just as it was.

_  
I'm too tired to listen.  
I'm too old to believe.  
All these childish stories.  
There is no such thing as faith & trust & love.  
_

She wasn't the little girl who's fingers traced the picture of the prince and princesses happily ever after anymore.

_  
I try but it's so hard to believe.  
I try but I can't see where you see.  
I try, I try, I try. _

How many times had she forgiven her parents, both of them, thinking her fairy tale would come someday if she did?

_My whole world is changing.  
I don't know where to turn.  
I can't leave you waiting._

In one blow, she'd lost her entire family.

_  
But I can't stay and watch my life burn.  
Ohh watch it burn. _

She didn't want her life to end so young...but what could she do when she was only fourteen and had nothing besides an old teddy bear and a ragged nightgown?_  
_

_Cause I try but it's so hard to believe.  
I try but I can't see where you see.  
I try, I try._

She'd tried so many times to see the love where it was most needed, know that she had faith in her parents, feel the warm sense of trust...and she just couldn't anymore_  
_

_I try and try to understand the distance and between.  
The love I feel the things I fear and every single dream_

She'd dreamt of adventure in her life, she'd dreamt of escape, she'd dreamt of even happiness....but she'd never dreamt of having a family again.

Until now.

* * *

** So, i've posted--what three?--chapters tonight so far, lemme see if i can stretch for one more. Four chapters, one night. Wow you guys are lucky. **

**The song is 'I'll Try' used in one of my favorite movies, Peter Pan 2, return to never land (I thought it was sweet, but no matter what, the original will always be my favorite!). In the movie, it's sung by Jonatha Brooke, NOT Jesse Mcartny, as I've heard some people say. He just did a cover of that song for the disney mania four c.d. (which i still listen to today after buying it when i was like ten!) **

**I started to cry at the end because I was like, she's lost and gained so many things--mostly unpleaseant--in her life, but never had she doubted her family's loving paitience for her. Until both of them kicked her out with the only thing that she has left in her life; an old teddy bear that is now her best friend. **

**Yes, John moved away. His parents found out about his friendship with Harmony, the 'witch', and moved him miles and miles away from her. But---wait, nevermind. I can't tell you the 'but' because then i'd be giving too much away! Sorry!  
**

**REVIEW! (And feel free to love me for posting up three chapters too! Gawd, I am SO modest!) **


	33. Chapter 33

Ariel walked the shoreline silently, her mind a jumbled mess. She'd literally told her daughter to go, and leave the only home she had at the moment, with nothing but an old bear under her arm, and a heavy heart. Why had she been so cruel? Couldn't she have just, _grounded_ her daughter? How come ever time she tried to be a parent and punish Harmony; she went way over the line and usually ended up making the girl's life hell.

Melody had barely uttered a word since Harmony had left---she stayed in her room all day, moping, sulking, crying, who knew? Ariel hadn't been her daughter's room to console her, because what would she say? 'I'm sorry I kicked your sister out, and have no idea where she might be right now.' As if she could say such a thing.

Ariel hadn't sent out search parties, because what would they find? Nothing? Would that mean that Harmony was in her other world, and the search party had been a complete waste of time? What was she going to do, when the entire village had ruined the girl's chance of ever fitting in, ever having a life outside the castle walls?

"What's wrong?" A voice Ariel knew since childhood asked, as she whirled around to see Attina sitting on the sand, resting on her arms as she looked up at Ariel.

"How do you know something's wrong?" Ariel wondered, sitting next to her sister on the sand. Taking off her heavy cloak, Ariel tossed it to her sister, who pulled it around herself as she felt the air was so cold. Her dress was thick enough to block out most of the cold, but Attina's bare shoulder's weren't.

"Please Ariel." Attina snorted, rolling her green eyes. "Because I know you. And you've always come to the beach when your thinking hard, which means that something's usually wrong." Attina answered, a small grin playing on the edge of her lips, as she looked at her younger sister who was trying to avoid her gaze.

"Why are you here?" Ariel answered Attina's answer with a question, not wanting to actually tell her sister what was really going on in her life at the moment. It was too confusing....too awful to be true.

"Coral was so guilty that she told me all about what really happened last night." Attina said, eyeing her sister to see her reaction. Confusion....so that must mean that Melody hadn't broken yet and told Ariel what really happened. "Apparently, it was Coral's and Melody's idea to come to the beach....Coral hadn't known Melody was bringing Harmony along with her. Though, since the girls had never met and all the rumors about Harmony....well, Coral was curious and wanted Harmony to prove she was a witch. Though, it seemed Melody wasn't all too fond of that, so after Harmony refused to give her a....um...cig-gar-rette?" Attina paused for a moment, her brows furrowed as she looked up at her human sister for confirmation at the thing. When Ariel nodded, an amused smile came up the corner's of Attina's lips, as she kept on with her story.

"After Harmony refused to give Melody one of those things, Melody pushed her and took it anyway. Then Melody started coughing, and that's when we know the rest. All in all, Harmony was just covering for them." Attina said with a shrug and a small smile that vanished when she saw her sister's troubled expression.

"Oh fuck!" Ariel groaned, not caring if she was swearing or not. She'd kicked her daughter out, had no idea where the girl was--and if she was alright or not--and then she finds out that Harmony hadn't done a stupid thing!

"Ariel?" Attina questioned, her eyes warily traveling down the form of her sister. "Care to explain anytime soon?" Attina asked her troubled younger sister. When Ariel sweared, you knew something was definitely wrong because she _never _did.

"You want to whole story?" Ariel asked with shut eyes and two fingers on either side of her temples, trying to rub away the guilt migraine that had so happily formed in her mind.

"Tell me." Attina urged....and Ariel did. She told her sister about all the parts she'd left out; locking Harmony in the dungeon the first time, thinking her daughter was a freak, what happened at the girl's second come out ball, how the girl had run back to her parents in hysterics because her brother was dead, and he'd killed himself in front of her, the second time she was locked in a dungeon, how she got Harmony to trust her again....and then...kicking the girl out with nothing but an old stuffed animal from her childhood in her arms.

Attina was silent for about a minute after she heard her sister's tail--that's right, _tail_. Ariel had screwed up in the past, but never that bad before. No, no parents _could_ ever screw up that bad. For the ocean's sake, she locked her own daughter in a dungeon! And then threw the girl out because her stress level finally got to her....and then her daughter was a freak?! Even Attina, who was the girl's aunt, and rarely saw her, didn't think that. She knew that Harmony was still adapting to her powers, and Attina had respected that because she knew it couldn't be easy. But to think one's own daughter was a freak?!

"Ariel..." Attina's slow voice started, but she wasn't really able to finish. How could she, after what her baby sister had just told her? "Ariel...she's fourteen now, right?" Attina asked in a slow voice, as Ariel nodded, a bit sadly. "Remember, when you were fourteen? How Daddy was always shooting down your ideas for fun, how you just wanted so badly to have him understand....now add that to about a hundred, and you've got your daughter." Attina said, as her mind mulled it over.

"You think I don't know that? After all that I put her through, she managed to forgive me, and try to forget about it even though she had nightmares still. I'm the worst excuse for a parent." Ariel said, well, more muttered as she pressed her fingers once again to her temples.

"Well, not the worst, but pretty bad." Attina said honestly, as her sister shot her a look. "Well, it's true, you have to admit!" Attina shot back defensively. "But she'll come back, don't worry." Attina said with full sincerity in her voice as she looked at her sister's blue eyes.

"How can you be so sure?" Ariel wondered softly, running her fingers through her tangled red hair.

A smile formed on Attina's lips at that, and she put a comforting hand on her sister's shoulder, making sure to keep eye contact to silently tell her to listen up, as best as she possibly could.

"Because she's your daughter."

* * *

**Four chapters! With a minute to spare, feel proud of me! Now, I aslo want to direct your attentio to something important: FRESHEMEN ARE NOT PEICES OF MEAT, THEIR HUMANS, ALBIET TINY ONES, BUT HUMAN'S ALL THE SAME. SO STOP SELLING US TO SENIORS!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**ps. xJadeRainx if you don't post at least two chapters tonight after i've posted four, I will---do something unpleaseant to you, that doesn't involve killing you 'cuz i kind of need you around to finish the story. OOH! TORTURE! CHINESE WATER TORTURE!!!!!!!!!!!**


	34. Chapter 34

"Poppy, I don't feel so good." Harmony said, with a stuffed up nose and an icy cold body. It'd been hours since the stupid raccoon had bit her, and now she was trying to keep herself warm by curling into a little ball. She could just feel a fever raging in her head, as she tried hard not to let it get the best of her. Her head was literally pounding with a migraine, her throat so sore that it hurt like hell to swallow, and she felt exhausted, though she'd waken up at probably around 8 or so, according to the sun. Shivering uncontrollably as her feet dug into the snow so that she could block out some cold, Harmony shut her eyes for a moment as she hugged her bear to her chest.

"Don't worry Poppy. We'll be fine. Remember? I promised." Harmony told her bear, as she struggled not to cry. Her tears would only become ice, and freeze her face. No, she had to stay strong; she had to be a big girl....after all she _was_ an orphan.

"I'm so sorry Harmony." Melody's whisper carried across her room, as she closed her red teary eyes and tried again to not think about it. She'd just stood by when her sister had been kicked out, was she stupid?! She should have run after her sister, told her parents it was her fault from the beginning, that she was trying to do a good deed by bringing Harmony along to the beach....well, no good deed goes unpunished in this world.

"_Harmony, where are you?  
Already dead, or bleeding?  
One more disaster I can add to my  
Generous supply!_

How many times was it now that she had added misery sister's life?

_No good deed goes unpunished  
No act of charity goes unresented  
No good deed goes unpunished  
That's my new creed_

As long as Harmony came home safe she'd always live by that code...and if she didn't....it was too painful to think of

_My road of good intentions  
Led where such roads always lead  
No good deed  
Goes unpunished!_

She'd wanted to do something good for her sister, take her out to the beach...instead she'd ruined the girl's life.

_One question haunts and hurts  
Too much, too much to mention:  
Was I really seeking good  
Or just seeking attention?_

Had she really been so self absorbed in herself that she hadn't even considered what would happen to Harmony?

_Is that all good deeds are  
When looked at with an ice-cold eye?  
If that's all good deeds are  
Maybe that's the reason why_

If all the good she'd done by her sister, was weighed against all the bad....the bad would most definitely win.

_  
No good deed goes unpunished  
All helpful urges should be circumvented  
No good deed goes unpunished  
Sure, I meant well -  
Well, look at what well-meant did!_

She'd wanted to take her sister out to have fun, to cheer her up after she'd seen something horrible....and she ended up destroying the girl's life.

_All right, enough - so be it  
So be it, then:  
Let everyone be agreed  
I'm __**wicked**__ through and through  
Since I cannot succeed_

She'd tried so hard to be a good sister....and then it'd blown up in her face.

_No good deed goes unpunished!"_

"Harmony....please...come home. I'm so s-s-sorry!"

* * *

**Is Harmony going to DIE?! WHAT?! OH GOD! REVIEW AND FIND OUT!**


	35. Chapter 35

"S-so...c-c-cold." Harmony whispered, as it was pitch black darkness in the woods for it was already night. The girl had spent the day trying to get some sleep, to stop the fever, to stop the cold...but she was already sure that soon enough she was going to have to cut off her toes because they turned black. She didn't know if she was shaking from fear of having to cut off her toe, or if she was just still shivering, but she knew that she was freezing.

"M-my....a-a-arm." Harmony whispered to herself again, as she felt the throbbing pain in her arm, around the spot where the raccoon had bitten her actually. She had to practically drag her hand to the makeshift bandage on her arm, and then had to look at the bite mark using the light of the moon, since it was nearly impossible to hold a flame in her hand if she was shaking this much.

Stealing a look at her throbbing arm, Harmony's swollen eyes became the size of saucers as she shivered still. Her arm, or at least the parts around the bite marks, was about twice the size it should be....and it felt like it had a pulse. Her cold fingers exhaustedly tried to gently probe the spot on the arm.....and Harmony literally had to stuff her fist into her mouth to keep from screaming. It hurt that bad....oh god it hurt! What---rabies. Of all the stupidest stuff to happen to her, she has to get rabies, and it has to be infected. Of course.

"I-I-I n-n-need h-help." Harmony whispered to her bear, using what was left of her strength to pull herself up off the ground. She didn't know where she was going, or how she was going to make it there if she was this sick....but she knew that she had to go before she died.

Harmony stumbled along in the woods, her swollen eyes, exhausted limbs that were aching from the cold---on top of the pain in her arm---and plus the fever she probably had gotten from being out here so long....it was almost unbearable. She would fall to her knees often after tripping over a tiny twig, and she only got up by sheer will to at least finish her freshmen year.

She had an awful cough that she noticed made her sore throat sorer, and once even, she noticed that she'd coughed up _blood_. But still, she made her way to wherever it was that she was going in the night, slowly and steadily, thinking to herself the same words she would use when she had once been small and afraid enough to hang upside down from the monkey bars. The sun was barely up now, casting a warm glow over the woods, and giving Harmony some tired insight as to not trip over as many twigs. That's when she saw him.

He was just leaning up against a tree; his brown hair tussled as if he'd just woken up from his sleep. He had on a black sweatshirt, and a pair of baggy jeans that always made Harmony wonder how on earth he was keeping them up. His brown eyes were warm as he looked over at her, and his expression was joking, like always. Yes, Harmony knew this stranger.

"Ryan!" She cried out hoarsely, before running to him. Tears were in her eyes as she weakly ran (which was more of a fast walk really) to him, to hold him, to hug him, to tell him to make fun of her, just to have one thing normal in her life again. She was at the tree now as her arms went out to wrap around him, and her head went out to rest against his ches---BAM!  
Harmony hit her head against a tree, as her arms were wrapped around it's thick rough trunk. Letting go quickly, Harmony looked around a moment to see where he may have gone, to hear his laugh at her running into a tree....the woods for once, were silent. Not a animal sounded as Harmony started to cough heavily, blood coming out as she did so. Wiping away her lips with the back of her arm....Harmony bit her lip as she realized what was happening to her.

She was hallucinating.

Closing her eyes tightly to keep the tears from over spilling, she took in a deep, aching breath in her lungs before continuing on. Hallucinations weren't good....she was on the fast track to dying now, she knew. If she didn't make it to wherever she was going by nightfall....she'd be a goner.

Shaking her weak head from those thoughts, she focused on keeping her heavy, swollen eyes open as she kept shivering and walking through the forest, coughing and uncontrollable amount as her feet regularly sent up cold bursts that shook through her like a kite.

"I'll make it Poppy....I---" Harmony cut off suddenly as she fell to her knees again, this time not finding enough strength in herself to keep on. Her bare feet, hands, face, and most of her legs, now that her nightgown was all ripped up all shivered even more in the snow bank that she laid down on. She just couldn't go on any more. She just couldn't. And with a final few tears to herself she came to the conclusion of what would happen to her tonight.

She would die.

* * *

**OH GOD! NOO! HARMONY!!!! **

**Good job to xJadeRainx for posting up TWO chapters tonight! YAY! I'm soo happy!**

**Also....Jas, you live in ENGLAND?! That's like....on the other side of the WORLD. Gah! Now i feel like such a geek since other kids from countries around the world have read (hopefully) my stories! OOH! Do you have an accent?! Possibly?! Accents are awesome! I wish I had one that sounded all proper like england, or cool like Australia, but noooo, i have to have an AMERICAN one. Stupid America....(I do not actually hate america. Please do not hunt me down and lock me in jail, government. *nervous laugh* Oh Canada, our home and native....wait! That's the candadian national anthem! GAH! Um....the american one is like...um....OH! I love america, yes i do, i heart america, and i'll kill you if you don't too!**


	36. Chapter 36

"Eric, it's been what---three?---days since she's been missing. What if she's out there all alone...and scared?" Ariel asked with a heavy heart, as she made her horse walk in the snowy woods. Usually these rides calmed her down....but not today.

"Ariel I'm sure she's fine....hopefully...wherever she is." Eric's words were a lie, he knew, but he also knew that if he didn't keep his wife's spirit's up....well, there was too much of a chance she'd go back to cutting.

"I just wish I knew she was safe." Ariel whispered, biting her lower lip as her eyes trained on the ground, struggling not to cry. Eric said nothing, because he too was trying hard not to cry, not to show how guilty he felt. His fourteen year old daughter was nowhere to be found, and the worst part was that he knew as a father he couldn't do a thing. What if she was in her other world? Was she okay, would she come back? What was happening to her?

Ariel's eyes still trained to the ground as she noticed something, something odd about the snow. As if...it was shaking, like an earth quake, but just one spot of the earth. Puzzled, she leaned closer on her horse, Stormy, looking at the strange thing. It looked almost as though....was that a _foot?! _Someone was under all that snow! Someone was going to die like that.

Jumping off her horse, and crossing in front of her husband's, he had barely enough time to control Brownie and make him not run over Ariel. Ariel was on the snowy ground brushing the snow off the person gently, before a tumble of bright red hair showed, and an ice cold body was attached to it. And there was only one word both parent's breathed at the sight.

Harmony.

* * *

**Super short, I know, but i wanted to get SOMETHING up, so it's my computer curfew now and bye!**


	37. Chapter 37

Ariel wasted no time in getting off her cloak and wrapping it around the girl, though it didn't seem to do much. The girl wasn't shivering, which scared Ariel to the point of no degree considering how cold it was out here. Her breathing was shallow, so slow that it seemed it might stop all together at any moment. Her exposed skin was puffy and slowly turning blue, as when Ariel touched the girl's arm, she only felt cold, and not the normal warmness that came with a body.

"Harmony can you hear me?! Harmony!" Ariel asked, shaking the girl as hard as she could to wake her up. The girl barely registered all the shaking though, as her eyes only opened just a little before falling back. Ariel panicked, not knowing what to do at the moment but wish her daughter wasn't on the verge of death.

"We've got to get her to the castle, _right now_. She'll die if she's out here any longer." Eric's equally panicked voice came behind Ariel, as she swiveled around to face him, Harmony still in her arms. Without a word, Ariel handed the girl up to her father, who gently placed her in the saddle.

"Is she going to be alright?!" Ariel's voice was so worried that it almost made her cringe. The ride back to the castle had taken less than a minute, and now Harmony, after taking an extremely hot bath, was swabbed in a million blankets in her own bed. And through all of that, the girl had been barely conscious, about ready to fall into a coma, which made Ariel panic and worry, and revert back to biting her nails, something she only did when she was on the edge.

"It's hard to say right now, your majesty." The doctor started, as he pressed his stethoscope onto the girl's heart to make sure her heart was still beating. It was, but then again, he could hear it actually skipping a beat every so often, something that shouldn't be taken lightly. "Her arm is badly infected....it looks like a wild animal bite." The doctor noted as he started to clean up the wound gently so he wouldn't hurt the poor girl.

"Ra-raccoon." She whispered so softly that it was barely heard in the room, as her parents quickly focused their attention back on her, and on her only.

"What did you say?" Eric asked in a gentle voice to his daughter, as the girl gulped, and her swollen eyes pressed shut.

"Ra-raccoon. B-b-bite." Harmony managed to whisper, though her mouth was so dry that it was hard to form actual words. Her exhaustion started to make her drift off, into a world far, far away.

"I think she meant a raccoon bit her." Ariel's quiet voice said, as the doctor's lips pursed and his brows furrowed. Raccoon.....rabies? Though, didn't rabies take two days to show? The wound looked fresh, as if it had been made the day before....but then again, there were some stories of rabies showing up earlier than expected. But the girl didn't seem to have it, at least, not at the moment.

"Does she have rabies then?" Eric's voice wondered, as Ariel didn't even bother to look up at him and question what 'rabies' was. There were just something's on land that she didn't know, still to this day.

"It's a possibility that she may have it.....though, it will take a few days at least to find out. But if she does have it....she'll start showing signs....and then she'll die." The doctor said with a grim face, as he kept checking the girl to make sure she was at least, for now, safe.

"Isn't there some type of treatment for it though?" Ariel's voice wondered, as the doctor bit his lip and shook his head.

"Unfortunately, your majesty, there is none. If that animal had rabies, and it's inside her blood system....she'll die." The doctor said grimly, as Ariel kept her head low so he didn't see her tears. Die. Her daughter might die, and even on the slim chance that she didn't have rabies....just looking at her and all would say that she only had an hour to live.

"Ariel?" A soft voice questioned behind her, as Ariel didn't even look up at her husband, keeping her head down low so that the doctor didn't see her tears. Eric squeezed her hand to remind her that he was here....but it did little to help soothe her, or take away the guilt that that she'd done this.

"It's possible that she'll live." The doctor offered, though he knew his own words were lies to help put parents at ease. Telling someone their child was going to die was never easy, but telling the King and Queen that their long lost daughter was going to die....well, let's just say that it was about ten times worse.

"Ariel...he's gone." Eric said after he heard the door shut softly behind the doctor. That's when Ariel finally lifted up her head, with tear stains falling down her face, as she sniffled.

"Eric...if she dies, I-I don't know what I'll do. My sweet Harmony...." Ariel's voice said as she bit her lip against the oncoming tears that threatened to fall from her eyes. No, don't be silly, she told herself, you're a Queen....you're not allowed to cry.

"Shh Ariel. She'll be alright...she has to be." Eric whispered.

Though, both parents knew that his words were lies.

* * *

**Will she die? Will she live? What will happen! I must know!**

**Alright, for those of you who are smart, and caught the fact that rabies is curable with six shots, and the wound imediately cleaned afterward, but remember, this is a different time. They don't know that yet, not like in Harmony's other world where they do. I researched it alot (because i was playing off an idea on my mind) and found out that back in these days that the person would die if they contracted rabies, though, it takes two days to two years to actually show up. :( So it is possible Harmony will die. **

**So, i was thinking about my sequel and I think it's going to be based off a another main character....because tradjedy is underfoot in Harmony's life right now. I'm sorry. Really, I am, but it was time for her to---wait, if i say that, then i'll ruin the story! **

**Now that i've placed a million questions in your mind, I am going to go eat my taco dinner. REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**


	38. Chapter 38

Ariel spent the entire night up, making sure her daughter didn't slip into a coma. Eric had left some hours ago, warning her that not going to sleep wasn't going to help the situation...but Ariel didn't care. In her mind, she kept on seeing that fight, and all the other fights that she'd had with her daughter.

"Maybe it would be better if you stayed in your other world." Ariel whispered to her daughter, cupping the girl's feverish face in her hand. "After all, I can't seem to do anything right by you. Every time I try to be your mother and punish you, I go to the extreme, and you always end up getting hurt." Ariel paused for a moment there, as the girl's breathing had stopped. She waited a moment calmly, and the girl continued breathing, though it was shallow still and hard to make out.

"I hope one day that you'll be able to forgive me for doing this to you...though, I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive myself. The scars that I've given you, driven you too even....I just wish I could take it all back, my baby. I just wish I could have been your mother all those years, protected you, held you, loved you....but instead, when you came back into my life, I hurt you, pushed you away, and swore that you weren't my daughter. And if only you knew how damn sorry I was Harmony! If only you knew how much it hurts me to see you die, and know that I can't do a thing about it. I'm so sorry sweetie." Ariel said, brushing back a tendril of her daughter's out of control hair.

With a sudden jolt of guilt, Ariel remembered the last time she'd done something so awful to her daughter. Then the girl got extremely hurt, and then somehow, she'd forgiven her. The same with all the other times....every time Ariel screwed up in her parenting, Harmony was the one who ended up physically, and emotionally paying for it. Though, all the other time's she'd been hurt, Ariel had known she'd get better....she wasn't all that happy watching her daughter practically die before her.

Eleven years Ariel had waited, and wondered, and waited, and wondered about her daughter Harmony. The baby that had gone missing, and never returned. She finally comes back, and she's confused, scared, and unknowing....and Ariel, in her happiness that her daughter was back, had been blind to the fact that the girl was really struggling to adjust to something totally new. Melody's announcement had tipped the scale and sent the girl running, because by then she was in desperate need of a friend....and Ariel hadn't been there to hold her arms out to her older daughter and say, 'I'll catch you if you fall.'

As if that wasn't bad enough, when Harmony had come swimming to Ariel, in tears and in fear for what she thought she'd done....Ariel had shunned her, and placed her in a lonely jail where her only friend was the cold hard floor. When Harmony had died....Ariel had thought her life was over. She couldn't go on without Harmony to balance Melody.....but when the girl had come back, she had runaway, because she didn't understand....but when she survived again through some miracle...Ariel should have held her, embraced her...instead she told her daughter she was a freak. She should have been more understanding.

And now....this. Sending her daughter to jail again, and then telling the girl to get out, out of the palace, out of her life, just out. And the girl had tried to argue, tried to say that she had was thrown out she had no other home, no one who would love her still, no one who could care about her....and Ariel had just ignored her, and pointed to the door. She'd made her daughter start running in the middle of the night, and go to the freezing cold woods with nothing but a thin nightgown on her back, and a bear in her hands. She hadn't taken any food, any warm clothes...any shoes, nothing. The girl had just gone with a thin nightgown and a stuffed bear in her arms, hugging it against her in the night as she probably crawled into a ball, and tried to remember what love felt like. What trust, and faith in parents felt like...what having actual parents felt like. She should have been there for the girl, to be a parent.

With tears in her eyes, Ariel brushed them away, and bit her lip as she looked down at the girl who was slowly advancing towards her death. The girl who wouldn't be able to grow up, find love, find happiness.....be a normal teenager if that's what it took. No, the girl who would die before she was fifteen, and all because of Ariel. Softly, she started singing a tune, while brushing away another tendril of her daughter's hair from her eyes.

"_If I could  
I'd protect you from the sadness in your life  
Give you courage in a world of compromise  
Yes, I would_

_If I could  
I would teach you all the things I've never learned  
And I'd help you cross the bridges that I've burned  
Yes, I would_

_If I could  
I would try to shield your innocence from time  
But the part of life I gave you isn't mine  
I've watched you fall So far down_

_If I could  
I would take all your pain away  
But I know that I can never cry your tears  
But I would  
If I could_

_If I live  
In a time and place where you don't want to be  
You don't have to walk along this road with me  
My yesterday  
Won't have to be your way_

_If I knew  
I'd have tried to change the world I brought to you to  
And there isn't very much that I can do  
But I would  
If I could...  
Oh baby... mommy wants to protect you  
And help my baby through her painful year  
It's part of me  
And if you ever... ever need  
Sad shoulder to cry on  
I'm just someone to talk to  
I'll be there... I'll be there  
I didn't change your world  
But I would  
If I Could._

But most of all, if I could, I would've been a better mother to you, my sweet, little Harmony."

* * *

**Song in this chapter is If i Could, by Celine Dion. I don't own any of it, :( sorry. Also, the song Melody sang a few chapters ago was No Good Deed, sung by Ilina Menzel playing Elphaba, in the broadway play Wicked. I loved that play! I don't own that one either though, sorry.**


	39. Chapter 39

"M-mhm?" Harmony rolled over in her sleep fitfully, her eyes refusing to open, but her body definitely awake. She felt the presence of warm hands tucking her back into bed...but she didn't care. She was so exhausted....so cold, so hot....it was awful alright. Her throat was so sore that she didn't even want to _think_ about what it'd sound like if she tried to sing, and her body ached so much that the idea of getting up, and out of bed literally _hurt_.

"Shh, just go back to sleep Harmony." A smooth melodic voice said, as her temple was brushed by the presence of slender fingers, and she was tucked in more tightly into bed. How had she known Harmony wasn't asleep? Where was she...who was she with? Was something happening?

"W-water." Harmony heard her voice whisper out through cracked lips that she knew must be bleeding. Gently, she felt her head being lifted up, as her mouth was pressed against something....a glass? A cool liquid met her lips then...but it wasn't water. It was....milk? Why was she getting milk? Why couldn't she sit up on her own....why was she so feverish?

Managing to pull her mouth away from the cup, Harmony felt herself being gently lowered back to her pillows, as a bunch of blankets were tucked hard against her, making sure she didn't fall out of her bed she supposed.

"Go back to sleep sweetheart." Ariel's voice was soft and smooth, though, she was worn out beyond extreme. She'd been spending days with her daughter, making sure the girl was at least surviving the one day....though Eric was really starting to tell her that she was going to end up the one sick in bed if she didn't get some sleep soon. But that was alright with Ariel. It erased some of her guilt knowing that she'd helped her daughter survive, even if it was just the day. The doctor had said that it seemed as though she didn't have rabies...but that there was still a low chance of her surviving, since she'd been exposed to the conditions so long out there.

"M-M-mom?" Harmony's voice guessed, as Ariel smiled a small, strained smile and nodded her head, while brushing the girl's bangs off of her sweating face. Taking a cool cloth in her hand, Ariel started to press it around her daughter's face, making sure that her fever was lowering, if only for a moment. An entire week now, it'd been, and Harmony didn't seem to have improved so much. If anything, she'd seemed to worsen...

"Yes honey, I'm right here." Ariel's voice murmured, as she noticed her daughter's mouth twitch into a smile. A small smile, but a smile none the less as the girl's lips pulled upwards.

"Thanks." Harmony managed her voice to say, before falling off into a fitful sleep once again. It helped knowing that someone was looking after her, that someone loved her enough to tell her to go back to sleep and to tuck her back in....though, Ariel probably felt guilty and that's why she was doing it. Still, any source of love would help Harmony right now.

"Your....welcome." Ariel said softly, though she knew her daughter had long fallen asleep. A smile covered her own lips as she rested her elbow's on the chair she was sitting in, her chin in her hands. Maybe if she just closed her eyes, for just a minute....

"Mom...Mom..." Ariel was gently shaken awake by Melody, and as she groggily looked up, her daughter shrugged with a sorry half smile to her mother, though inwardly she held in giggles. She'd never seen her mother so....not put together. It kind of reminded Melody of her in the mornings.

"Dad told me to tell you to go to sleep, in your own room or else he'll drag you himself. I can look after Harmony." Melody said, puffing out her chest in pride at the words, and that her father trusted her enough to look after her possibly rabies dying/not dying sister. Ariel sighed, and looked at her daughter on the bed, who was sleeping fitfully. Looking back at her other daughter, Ariel managed a yawn and a nod.

"Alright, alright. But if something happens to her....." Ariel let the thought trail off as she bit her lip, not even wanting to think about it if that happened to her daughter, her fourteen year old daughter.

"I know, I know. Wake you up _immediately_." Melody filled in, rolling her blue eyes as her mother shot her a wary look, one that Melody knew well as she kept her gaze on her feet, trying not to giggle at how funny her mother looked when she was groggy, like a teenager.

"Good girl." Ariel said with a small laugh, kissing Melody's forehead as she walked out of Harmony's room. Maybe some sleep would do her some good...she'd be looking after Harmony tonight, again, as usual. Though, she just hoped nothing did happen while she was away from the girl.

"Alright Harmony. So, I don't know if you can hear me or not...but I'll talk anyway. Maybe the sound of my voice will give you dreams...though if I know you, you'd probably say it'd only give you nightmares." Melody said with an easy laugh, as she looked at her sister...who didn't laugh back. Oh. Right. Sighing, Melody reverted back to talking. "I know...that we haven't been a good family to you....not lately, no, not really ever. But, if you get better, I swear that we will be. We'll be the best damn family this world has ever seen, but you have to get better first Harmony. Otherwise we can't do it, because you hold it all together, you know? No, probably you don't know, so I'll explain it." Melody said, making herself comfortable in the chair before looking back at her sister.

"Since that day you tripped and fell into the study, you've just taken a place in everyone's heart. A special place that I know no one but you can take up. You've saved the family before...and you've put yourself at risk just for us, though we haven't been great to you. You're like the glue that keeps us together...and I know, we've all done cruel, cruel things to you, and yet somehow, you manage to forgive us each time, and keep on with life. Life hasn't been nice to you....and as shallow as this may be, I'm jealous of you Harmony." Melody finally admitted, letting out a breath as she continued on, more slowly and thoughtfully.

"You got to grow up as a normal girl, with friends who accept you for who you are on the inside, not just the position you hold in society. You have these amazing powers...and you're so pretty and smart...and then, I'm just the other twin. Melody. I'm the black haired one that's always in the shadows nowadays...and I can't help but be jealous of you. And my jealously has made me do stupid, stupid, stupid things to you, and hurt you before, but without you Harmony, I don't think I could survive...I don't think our family could. So please, please, try to get better....for us." Melody finally said, sighing, as she shook her head, and finally tore her gaze away from the wall, and onto the girl in the bed.

But, Harmony wasn't sleeping fitfully anymore, or even breathing shallow. Sweat poured down her face, and Melody, tentatively, pressed the back of her hand against her sister's forehead, before a different feature lit up on her face as took in a breath. Melody put her hand on her sister's bare shoulder, and on the girl's hand, before realization finally set in and her blue eyes traveled to Harmony's peaceful face.

* * *

**Ooh! I'm going to keep you waiting to know anymore than that, until tomorrow. Sorry, but it's already 10:30 and i've got to turn in the computer. :() tell me what you think has hapened, because she's---i'm not going to even say it. Ha! REVIEW and you shall get more tomorrow. Don't and i'll use the same assasin i'm using to kill xJadeRainx if she stops her story suddenly, to kill all of you. NOT! Jk...or am i? Hm...never trust a teenager, right? **

**Anyway, review and i'll tell you everthing about what's *sniffle* happened to Harmony. I can't believe it....i'm crying, but i know it'd had to be done. It just hurts so much though! **


	40. Chapter 40

Melody's eyes grew wide, as panic set into her pretty features. Biting her lower lip, she contemplated going to her mother and telling her what had happened to Harmony....but she didn't want to wake her mother up! She didn't understand what was happening though....as she pressed her hand once again to her sister's forehead. How had that happened? What was happening? Was she alright? Perhaps Ariel should know....no! She couldn't tell her mother that something had happened to her sister while she was supposed to be the one to look over her.

"Come on Harmony, give me a clue. What happened?" Melody's voice whispered, staring at her sister. The girl gave no clue as she laid in the bed, and Melody bit her lip harder, as her brows furrowed worriedly. Was this a sign that she was dying slowly? No, she couldn't be. She just couldn't. Harmony was her sister, this couldn't happen to her. This couldn't!

"Please do something Harm. Please....I need you. We all need you." Melody said softly, but the girl did nothing still, her eyes closed as a peaceful expression lay on her face.

"Oh god." Melody said to herself softly, as in her mind she kept contemplating whether to wake her mother up or not. What could she say? That she didn't know what was happening to her sister, and that she wasn't burning hot anymore? What did she do? What _could _she do?

If she told her mother, there was the potential risk of freaking her out....and then her thinking it was all a joke. On the other hand, if she told no one and just kept looking at her sister, maybe she could will the girl to show some sign of what had happened to her. Did she have rabies? Is that why she's not feverish anymore? Or is it something else entirely....like she's almost dead.

But she should tell her mother, her brain urged. Maybe her mother would freak out, but at least then Melody would know what was happening, and if her sister was gone or not. Making up her mind, Melody was about to get up from the chair and run to wake up her mother....when Harmony's door opened and closed softly, and Ariel was already there.

"It's been hours since you've been in here sweetheart." Ariel's soft voice said, as she felt much better after that little nap. Maybe Eric was right, maybe she shouldn't push herself so. It only result in her exhaustion....but then again, if she didn't push herself, how could Harmony ever get any better?

"It has?" Melody asked dubiously, blinking in confusion. Stealing a look at the grandfather clock in the room, she realized her mother was right. About three hours, to be exact....had she really spent all that time talking to her sister, and then trying to decide whether or not to wake her mother?

"Mhm hm." Ariel murmured, noticing how her daughter was trying hard to stay up. A soft smile despite the circumstances lit on her face as she enveloped the girl in a comforting hug, and then releasing her with a small kiss to her forehead. "Get to bed honey, it's late."

"But I'm not tired." Melody whined, though she knew she should be telling her mother that her sister was....dead. Yes, that's what it had to be. There was no other way around it....as Harmony was dead. She was dead. Though, no matter how many times Melody said the words in her mind, she couldn't quite get a grasp onto them. Dead seemed so far away....a different world, not her life. Dead.....her sister was dead.

"Of course you're not." Ariel said with a smile, gently guiding her daughter to her own room. The girl looked up at her mother and crossed her arms over her chest in defiance, though she was already inside her room. How did she do that? Melody wondered to herself musingly, before she saw that her mother was already untying the laces in the back of her dress.

"Mom I'm not going to sleep. It's not even that late." Melody argued, as her dress fell around her ankles. Her mother was trying to hide a smile as she shook her head, pulling off Melody's petticoat before slipping the girl into her nightgown.

"Of course it isn't." Ariel said with a smile to her daughter, before tucking the girl into her bed and kissing her on the head once more. "Get to sleep now, alright? It's past your curfew. Goodnight." Ariel said softly, as she saw Melody already drifting off into the world of dreams. Something's would never change, Ariel thought to herself with a smile, blowing out the girl's candle before hurrying back to Harmony's room.

Pressing her hand against her daughter's forehead, Ariel expected to find a raging fever still going all throughout her body. But that was not to be as there was no fever on the girl's face, just a peaceful, relaxed, almost sleeping expression. Ariel had her hand feel the girl's arm, to make sure that this was real, and not some type of hoax. But it was real, and since it was, Ariel sighed in relief.

The fever was broken.

* * *

**HA! Did i fool all of you into thinking i'd kill Harmony? Oh god, that was funny! I wanted you to be so surprised, so shocked when you found out that she wasn't dying, but instead, her fever had broken...did i accomplish it? **

**Okay so side note: I know that Melody was thinking her sister is dead, Harmony is dead, but you have to understand, she was only thinking that because she knew her sister wasn't dead yet, but she was convincing herself that the girl would die sooner or later, so she's trying to save herself the pain of when it actually happens. **

**2. When you look throughout these past two chapters, I only said that her shallow breathing had stopped (last chapter at the end). I didn't say that her BREATHING all together wasn't coming out, I just said she wasn't breathing shallowly anymore. Since her fever had broken, her breath had returned to a normal pace. I scared you with that, didn't I? **

**3. Melody doesn't realize that Harmony's fever has broken because she's so scared. Though she won't admit it, she's scared that her sister will die. So her mind as a defense mechanism is blocking out any possibility that her sister will live, because, what if she doesn't? What if Melody get's so hopeful and clings to the fact that her sister's fever has broken....and then Harmony dies, and all her hope is shattered. **

**I really hope those three notes gave you a little clearing up on the past chapters :D. Tell me if you though Harmony had died, or not, while reading this chapter when you review, because I'd really like to see how many of you thought she was dead, or dying. **

**REVIEW AND TELL MEEEE!**


	41. Chapter 41

"Does this mean she'll get better?" Eric's soft voice questioned, as the doctor pressed his stethoscope against the princesses' heart, trying to hear the now steady beat that rung out from it.

"Yes." The doctor answered in a slightly awed voice, as the girl turned away from him in her sleep, nuzzling her head against her pillow before becoming still once again. "Though, it's nothing short of a miracle, I can assure you that. I was almost certain she wouldn't survive....but somehow she's managed to, but just barely." The doctor answered, as he went to the girl's arm to check the wound that the raccoon had left. It was healing nicely, showing no signs of possible rabies, or even infection...but it was still a miracle.

When the girl had been found, and the doctor had first checked on her....she was literally in the arms of death. The third stage of hypothermia, where the mind hallucinates as she kept repeating how her brother was there, and how he kept talking to her. Also the third stage in which she'd stopped her shivering all together, because death had a grip on her already, and was slowly pulling her in. She'd regained some focus when she'd been put to bed, and was slowly warming up her ice cold skin....but not enough to ever keep her awake. He'd been certain that the girl wouldn't survive the night.

"What does that mean?" Ariel drawled out slowly, knowing that her husband and the doctor would know immediately that she wasn't asking for the meaning of a word, but for the meaning of 'just barely surviving' would do to her daughter.

"She'll just have to be treated as though she still has a fever. Resting, slowly regaining strength, eating....but make sure she doesn't push herself too much." The doctor warned, as Ariel's red brows furrowed, as she tilted her head to the side in question at that. But it was Eric who spoke.

"What will happen if she does?" He asked with a dry mouth, hoping to god that his daughter would get better. The doctor kept saying it was nothing short of a miracle she survived....but Eric hoped the miracle would last.

"If she pushes herself to hard", the doctor started, placing two fingers on the side of Harmony's neck to feel her pulse. "It may damage her brain even more than it might have." He said, as Ariel and Eric both perked at the answer. Her brain was damaged? What?!

"Her brain is....damaged?" Ariel asked in a small voice, moving a curl off of her daughter's face. Brain damage....of all the things to happen to her daughter, of all the misadventures or things she's seen in her life....why did brain damage have to come?

"It's a possibility. She was in freezing temperatures for some time....and once the hallucinations start there's always a high chance of the brain never functioning correctly again." The doctor said, as Ariel repressed a frustrated sigh, and looked back at her daughter.

"Make sure she takes this whenever she wakes, and every four or so hours afterwards. It'll help keep her arm from infecting....and keep her fever away." The doctor said, handing Eric the bottle of what he presumed was going to be a nasty tasting liquid. Oh that would be fun to get a teenager to drink.

The door shut softly then, as Ariel, startled, looked up at the door, before shrugging it off. "Eric...what if she's brain damaged? What if she can never be a normal teenager again?! What if she'll have to stay in bed the rest of her life? What if---" Ariel's frantic talking voice was an octave higher than normal, before Eric finally put a restraining hand on her wrist, a soft command to stop talking so fast, else she hurt herself.

"And what if she's not brain damaged Ariel?" Eric asked in a soft voice to his wife, who looked up at him with big, blue, pained eyes. "She's a strong girl Ariel, you know that. The doctor already said it was nothing short of a miracle she survived, maybe it's the same with her brain." Eric said, really wishing he believed his own words.

"My little tune...." Ariel said softly, her fingers brushing against her daughter's face. The girl stirred a moment, but didn't wake as she nestled her head into the pillow even more. "Oh Harmony." Ariel said in a far softer voice than before, biting her lip as tears threatened to escape her eyes. Eric's arms were around her in seconds, a kind of security blanket in knowing that he was here, and that everything was fine. But the thing was, even though he was here...

Nothing was fine.

* * *

**Kind of sad, right? Well, review, and i'll post up a third chapter tonight! **


	42. Chapter 42

As dawn's first light hit Harmony's face, she groaned and rolled over in bed, feeling weak all over. Gawd, what had _happened_?! The last thing she could remember was getting ready for the ball, and looking into the mirror to see a stranger...and then darkness. The rest was just...not there. No matter how many times she tried to push past the barrier, it stood rigid, telling her to wait, and soon she'd regain full memory of what had happened.

Rolling over to her other side, Harmony looked out the window to see a beautiful dawn approaching, as the snow and sand on the beach reflected off the sunlight like the waves. That would be a wonderful thing to sketch, her mind told her, as she smiled a little at the thought of it.

It took the girl about ten minutes to sit up, and in that time she worked a small sweat on her forehead at how much energy it took. But she kept working her way up, as she then slid out of her bed. The result was almost too painful to bear.

A sharp but yet somehow aching pain howled through her legs from carrying her weight, which apparently it wasn't so used to. Frowning at that slightly, Harmony extended her arm to grab her sketchbook and pencil; she'd fill in the colors later with her pastels.

Managing to use the wall as her support to keep her up, Harmony took in a deep breath as she was about to open the door of her room....when it swung open anyway. Her mother stood in the doorway, staring at her a moment in shock with her jaw basically dropped to the floor. Harmony tilted her head in question to why her mother was so shocked....but didn't care enough to ask the actual question.

She was about to walk past her mother and down to the beach, when her arm was suddenly her wrist was grasped tightly, and her mother's shocked look turned to disapproving.

"What are you doing out of bed? You need your rest if you want to get any better sweetheart." Ariel chided in a gentle voice, as Harmony rolled her blue eyes at that and looked at the window once again. If she hurried up, she'd be able to get the perfect time of day to sketch the sunrise!

"I'm fine Mom." Harmony said impatiently, not letting on that if she wasn't leaning against the wall she'd literally have fallen by now. "Besides, I want to sketch and---" Harmony broke off her sentence when she felt her mother gently pushing her along to her own bed, and in seconds she was tucked back into the sheets. How did she _do _that?!

"You," Ariel said with a smile to her teenage daughter, "need to rest. Sunsets will always be there, but if you don't rest your health won't be." Ariel said with a wink that made her daughter groan. She'd been worried all night, thinking her daughter might possibly have brain damage....now she was just worried about getting the girl to sleep.

"Sunset? I thought it was sun_rise_..." Harmony said with a musing voice, as her mother smiled and beamed down at her.

"You've been sleeping for a long time, that's why." Ariel said with a smile still. She'd never stop being happy that her daughter was alright, that she was still a cocky teenager. "After being in the snow so long, the doctor...." Ariel's words stopped registering in Harmony's mind after she said 'snow'. Snow...why did that sound so familiar...so...oh.

Her mind was immediately swarming with things, the ball, her brother, sneaking out, getting kicked out again, running through the snow. Curling up in a little ball at night to keep out the cold...keeping her hands warm only by breathing on them, and then rubbing her feet to stop feeling so cold. Crying herself to sleep as the animals of the forest moved about, the raccoon attacking her....

"Harmony?" Ariel questioned, as she saw her daughter had long stopped listening to her. Instead, the girl was in some sort of haze, her eyes growing more tortured and her frown more menacing by the minute. Her body was suddenly shaking, despite the warmness of the room as a sob escaped her throat. Ariel placed a gentle hand on her daughter's shoulder, looking at the girl kindly and brushing away her tears....Harmony flinched at her touch though, immediately shaking it off to Ariel's concern.

"What's wrong honey?" Ariel wondered in confusion, as Harmony turned her blue eyes onto her mother, that same crystal fire that she always had in them when she was mad there, seeming even more crystal-y and fire-y than before. The hardness of the look startled Ariel, as Harmony's mouth started to move, as she stared down her mother with hatred.

"I remember."


	43. Chapter 43

"Remember what Harmony?" Ariel's voice broke the tense silence that had been there just moments before. Harmony looked at her with a steely expression, as she managed to sit up in her bed, shaking off any help from her mother.

"Remember it all. I remember the ball, I remember how my brother is now six feet under....I remember being locked in jail. I remember you kicking me out....and I remember crying, and being scared because I was so freezing." Harmony's voice was icy, but somehow still acid at the same time, as Ariel winced at it.

"Honey, I know what we did was terrible but---" Ariel was cut off as Harmony's bitter laugh arose, her gaze still steely as she looked at her mother with anger.

_"'_An you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets, For, by my soul, I'll ne'er acknowledge thee, Nor what is mine shall never do thee good. Trust to't, bethink you. I'll not be forsworn.'" Harmony quoted slowly, recounting one of her favorite novels.

"Harmony...what are you talking about?" Ariel asked in a quiet voice, not recognizing the passage that Harmony was quoting. The girl's blue eyes looked up at her mother, and a bitter smile played on her lips.

"You basically did all that to me, do you realize that? You kicked me out without so much of a warning, because of what you thought. A fourteen year old girl whose life is coming in at her from all sides....you just pointed to the door and told me to leave. And now, like always, you're going to beg for me to forgive you, because 'what you did was wrong and it will never happen again'. I've heard them all before....and each time somehow I've managed to forgive you. But not again." Harmony said in a voice so tightly controlled that it made Ariel take in a breath.

"Harmony....sweetie....what are you talking about?" Ariel asked once more, this time out of fear and regret. Her daughter was going to forgive them....right? She couldn't have a vendetta against them her whole life; they were her family! She'd have to realize that like all families they made mistakes, and that sooner or later she'd have to forgive them!

"I'm saying I'm an orphan." Harmony said the words quietly, but out loud all the same as she came to understand that this was a true fact. "My brother is dead," Harmony had to make sure to keep breathing and not let a tear fall from her now watered eyes as she thought about him. "my adopted parents kicked me out because they think I've killed him...my real sister pushed me down to be the center of attention.....and my real parents have also kicked me out." Harmony said all that out loud, as she tried to hide the tears of pain that went into her eyes. She was an orphan. She had no family. Where would she go? What would she do? Why was she even here, in the palace?

"Harmony, that's not true!" Ariel protested energetically, swallowing the lump in her throat. "We love you so much...we were so afraid when you ran....we all felt guilty...but you'll get better soon, and then, we'll be a nice family again. You'll see." Ariel rambled, but even as she said the words, she knew they weren't true. They'd never be a 'nice' family again. Ever.

"Love?!" Harmony spat out, as tears rolled down her cheeks. "Love for your other daughter, but not for me right?!" Harmony spat out again, venomously staring her mother down. "Just face it already; I'm the unwanted, unloved, and uncared for child in this world, and every other damn world that there is!" Harmony all but yelled, collapsing in a heap back to her pillows as sweat lined face. Ariel wasted no time in grabbing a cool cloth and pressing it against the girl's weak face as the child coughed awfully.

"Go away." Harmony groaned, as Ariel only brushed off her words. She was going to be a mother to her daughter, no matter what it took. Even if the girl hated her, inside and out, she would still be her mother.

"Hush. You're already starting to feel warm. You shouldn't push yourself so much." Ariel answered gently, wiping off the sweat of her daughter's forehead with gentle movements of the cool cloth. The girl's blue eyes exhaustedly searched her mother for any clue of how she was reacting to her words, but her mother kept tight lipped and her expression worried as she kept tending to the girl.

"Why are you doing this?" Harmony's voice slurred from exhaustion, as her arm reached out in her bed....but didn't find what it was looking for. Without even a word from Harmony, Ariel handed the girl her teddy bear, knowing that's what she wanted right now.

"Because no matter what honey, I love you. And I'm going to make sure you get better, I promise." Ariel's voice was sincere, as Harmony tried to fight off her battle with exhaustion and looked blearily up at her mother, eyelids so low that it was almost impossible to tell that she was still awake.

"Don't make promises or say things that you don't mean." Harmony's voice was slow, thick with exhaustion as her mother pursed her lips for a moment at the girl, before shaking her head and kissing her on the forehead.

"I've wronged you before my little Harmony, and I've done awful things to you that I will regret as long as I live....but never for one moment doubt my unwavering love for you, my special little girl." Ariel whispered, as Harmony made a sound at her words and slipped into unconsciousness finally.

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**Isn't it sweet how Ariel says how much she loves her daughter....but what about her daughter? Will Harmony be able to forgive her family? Or will she always hold a grudge against them? Find out soon, if you review!  
**

**Alrighty, inspired by xJadeRainx and the books 'Rosaline's Ex' (which I encourage all to read, if they like shakespeare!) and 'Loving Shakespeare' (also a great book!) I want to play a game with all of you. Obviously, one line in this chapter is shakespearean, but which one? Point out what line, the character who says it, and the story in your reviews, and your name (obviously fanficiton name that you use in your reviews!) will be said by a character of your choice in one of the next chapters! Not really much of a prize, but it'll be fun to see who can come up with it. First review wins! GO!  
**

***Remember, to tell me what the quote is from you have to REVIEW. If you don't, i won't count your entry valid. So i'm kind of forcing you to review! HA hA! SUCKA"S!* **

**No purchase nesscessary, unless, you want to print out new dollar bills (or pounds...which i think are coins? idk, i don't live in england, so i wouldn't really know how the money system works ova the ocean with a Queen who is all like 'i'm queen, bow to me bitch!' and she's supa old too...why hasn't she retired yet?!) with my face on them. I realize that on the previous line, you had to go back and re-read it because you forget what i said before the parentheses, so in a way, i'm also making you use your brains, WHEN YOUR NOT IN SCHOOL! BUHAHAHAHAH---*coughs uncontrolablly for about two minutes, before taking a sip of cold water and thanking the waiter for giving it to her---AHAHAHAHAHA!**

**REVIEW! **


	44. Chapter 44

Ariel stayed by her daughter's bedside for what seemed like hours, as she was constantly keeping watch over the girl, making sure she didn't slip into a coma or anything of that sort. Though it seemed as though her mind was fine, Ariel wanted to be extra certain, because after all, she _was_ a mother. And it was her job as a mother to worry and fret and keep a close eye on the child, even when she knew the girl was healing fine.

"She woke up...and she seemed fine. Besides the fact that she hates us." Ariel said the last sentence flatly, as she heard the door shut softly. She didn't have to look back to know who'd just entered, she didn't have to even wonder who it might be, she just..._knew_.

"She said that?" Eric wondered, placing a gentle hand on his wife's shoulder as he stared at the peacefully sleeping girl in her bed. God she looked so much like Ariel, his mind mused. With that bright red hair and that heart shaped face...it was like he had nothing that tied him to this child, for it was all Ariel's.

"Not exactly...but the meaning was clear." Ariel sighed, dipping her head foreword as she closed her eyes for a moment. "Eric, what are we going to _do_?! She's only fourteen....and yet, she's seen her brother die right before her eyes, been locked in jail, had both her families abandon her....it's like her life has just been one cruel joke." Ariel sighed, letting her fingers trace the girl's cheek for a moment before pulling back and intertwining them with Eric's.

"Fourteen." Eric echoed slowly, and softly. Ariel was right he realized, Harmony was only fourteen, and yet, she'd seen things that would haunt her for a lifetime. "Honestly....I don't know what we're going to do Ariel." Eric admitted, for once not having a reasonable answer to soothe his wife with. "At fourteen my entire life was devoted to not getting caught so I wouldn't get in trouble." Eric said softly and sadly, remembering his childhood.

"And at fourteen I was trying to do the same." Ariel said softly too, brushing back a curl from the girl's face. "But at fourteen Harmony has literally been pushed around, kicked when she was down, and hurt so many times...by her own family." Ariel said sadly, biting her lip to keep the tears from coming. "Do you think she'll ever forgive us?"

"In all rights...no. She might get passed it, and at times in the future she might forget about it....but she'll never get passed the fact that her own family disowned her, and threw her out with only a small bear in her arms." Eric admitted slowly, as Ariel bit her lip and nodded. It seemed likely that way...it seemed as though that would happen....but it was still awful to think that their daughter may never forgive them again.

"We should get to bed.....it's late." Ariel said softly, but made no move to get up from the seat next to her daughter's bed. Eric was startled at Ariel's words; she never left her daughter's bedside without him pleading for at least ten minutes with her to do so.

"Ariel?" Eric questioned, knowing something immediately was up with her. She said nothing though as she stared at her daughter for a moment, before sighing, and getting up.

"Come on." She said softly with a rather forced smile to her husband, as she pulled on their intertwined hands to go to their room. Queens didn't cry, Queens didn't cry, her mind kept repeating as she bit her lip to go faster to their room. She wasn't going to cry, she wasn't going to cry, she wasn't going to cry...

"Ariel, love, what's wrong?" Eric asked softly, as he shut the door of their room quietly. Ariel sighed, but said nothing as she let her dress slip off of her and turned to her husband with a fake smile.

"Nothing." Ariel said, but she knew Eric wouldn't fall for such words. And she was right, he didn't.

"I hate it when you do this you know." Eric reminded her in a gentle tone. Raising one of her red brows, she turned to him with question alight in her electric blue eyes, as the petticoat slipped off her body now, leaving her completely bare.

"Do what?" She wondered softly, as she saw her husband's eyes grow the size of saucers as he stared at her. Of course. "It's been fifteen years that we've been married now Eric; one would think you'd be used to me like this." She said with a gentle laugh that swayed off of the walls in the room, echoing in Eric's ears as he quickly regained himself. She was doing this on purpose, he realized musingly, just so he didn't find out what was really the matter with her.

"First, I will never be able to get used to you like that my little mermaid." Eric said in a loving voice, as Ariel's eyes twinkled in merriment. "Second, I hate it when you pretend all is fine with you, when you know I know better, and yet, you still refuse to tell me what's wrong." Eric said in a soft voice, as Ariel's eyes went from merry to sad within seconds, and she sighed. Slipping her nightgown on, she sat on the bed and looked up at him.

"Can't we just leave it alone? Please Eric? I don't want to deal with this right now." Ariel requested in a voice that nearly broke her husband's heart to hear. Her words were sad...so sad...

"Love, you know I'm not going to leave this alone. If you don't tell me now, I'll keep pestering you until you do tell me." Eric stated in a quiet voice, as he took her hand in his and looked at her blue eyes intently with pleading. Sighing, Ariel leaned into his offered contact, letting her head rest against his chest as soft tears fell down her face.

"She's not going to forgive us Eric....she'll never come back again. We'll lose her again, and there's not a thing we can do to stop her." Ariel whispered, as tears fell down her face faster. Eric tried to soothe her sobs but it was no use, Ariel was far beyond the point of reasoning now. Ariel's own mind worked within itself, as she came to one conclusion.

Queens may not cry....but mothers who'd done terrible things did.

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**First off, congrats to xJadeRainx, for being a geek and getting the shakespeare quote correct. Good job winning, Harmony will say your name....also, LEARNING IS STILL NOT FUN!! I just like reading, but like, learning about math, or biology....BLEH! **

**Second: I think everyone must have contracted the swine flu, and that's why they didn't even try to review. So, let's get one thing straight. You don't review, I *#$ your heads and *&^% with a !()$ murder suspect #$% bathub &*()* rainbows and cute bunnies. So, review!**

**Did you guys know that the kids song "Ring around the rosies, A pocket full of poisies, Ashes, Ashes, We all fall down!" was about the black plague? Yeah, turns out my entire childhood I was singing a song about death. Fun. Also, don't look up the black plague on google images....it's not very pretty. Also don't look up smashed head...i get bored easily, if you haven't noticed. **

**REVIEW!**


	45. Chapter 45

"_Aänenvaimentimilla nyt lapseni, Ja mennä nukkumaan, Niin että voit kertoa makea unelmansa täyttää pään."_

, A soft lullaby filled Harmony's ears as she started to wake up, the tune almost hypnotizing to her. Without even knowing it, her own soft voice arose from her throat, filling in the rest of the lullaby.

"_Olkoon maailman unelmien sinut pois pikkuinen, Kuin silmäsi hitaasti sulje, Ja olkoon tama tuutulaulu laulettavaksi."_

Ariel looked at her groggy daughter singing the rest of the lullaby with shock for a moment, before she regained herself. Though, she did wonder how her daughter knew an old, Atlantican lullaby.

"_Niin tiedät, että sinulla on rakkaani_."

Ariel sang the last line softly, as Harmony looked up at her with first sleepiness, and then hatred burning in her blue eyes. Sighing, Ariel gave her daughter an innocent look as the girl's hatred seemed to take on a new meaning at that.

"What are _you_ doing here? What am _I_ even doing here? Shouldn't I faraway from here, since you kicked me out?" Harmony said in a voice like acid, as Ariel bit her lip to keep her temper from coming up. She didn't need that right now, no, she needed to be good and talk to her daughter, try to see if the girl would at least forgive her for the things she said...but her words were so harsh!

"I'm still your mother young lady, and I won't be talked to like that." Ariel said, grinding her teeth together in an effort to try and keep the rest of her temper down. If Harmony kept on like this, Ariel didn't know how long she'd last until the yelling started.

"You're not my mother." Harmony said in a venomous voice, as Ariel's eyes filled with rage and sadness. "Remember, I'm an orphan." Harmony said with a bitter laugh at herself.

"You're not an orphan Harmony." Ariel said in a gentler voice, brushing away a strand of her daughter's out of control hair. "You have two parents who love you---and have made terrible mistakes with you---and a sister who loves you to death for sticking up for her." Ariel said, as she noticed her daughter's eyes fall to the sheets of the bed a moment, not willing to look up at her mother.

"All my life I wished for adventure." Harmony started, in a slow soft voice that her mother listened closely to. "I used to stay up late at night and dream about a life where things were different. Where my parents didn't fight, where I had a sibling who didn't use every opportunity to torture me....and then I came here. For awhile, I finally thought that maybe this was where I belonged, this was what I had wanted all my life....and then I was called a slut in front of everyone. Morgana had the trident...I fell off....I almost died. As if that wasn't bad enough, a few months later I found out I was a witch, and my parents locked me in jail because I somehow managed to kill Alec. But I traded my life for him---though he didn't deserve it---and Amaranth granted me a second life. It turns out Amaranth was really after my power the entire time though, and I almost died again when I had to destroy her. And now...my adopted parents are getting a divorce, my brother killed himself because I told him I didn't love him....my real parents locked me in jail again....and to top it all off, I was thrown out with just Poppy in my arms. I wanted adventure, excitement, something different from my day to day routine. I didn't want my new family to continually rip my heart out, stomp on it, and then apologize every time, so that I can have a small glimmer of hope, only to have it crushed every time." Harmony's voice was soft, letting the walls echo her meaning.

Ariel bit her lip out of sadness at her daughter's words, realizing they were right. How could they have done that, all of that, to her? The girl's life was already scarred in ways that none but she could imagine, and yet somehow she made a brave attempt at trying to be a normal teenage girl. It's got to be awful, Ariel finally realized, to know that this isn't a storybook, that it was real life, and that all these things had happened. To know that your brother loved you....and you slowly watched him die. To know that you had parents....who kicked you out in the middle of winter. It must be terrible.

"Harmony.....I know you'll never get passed the things you've seen, or had done to you....but I'm asking you to forgive us, your family, one last time. This time, we won't make mistakes." Ariel said softly, biting her lip to keep the tears from coming on. Harmony only looked at her mother wearily....before sighing and looking back to the bed sheets.

"Can you give me a few days to try and think things out before I say anything. Please?" Harmony's soft request asked, as she knew what she wanted to do before she made her decision.

"Of course." Ariel agreed, not letting on how much it hurt her to see her daughter so grown up...like an adult. Fourteen years old, and she was already acting as if the world was on her shoulder, which in all reality it was. With a simple snap of her fingers, she could destroy the world....just thinking about it made Ariel shudder as she walked out of her daughter's room.

Harmony stared after her mother for a moment, before sighing, and sitting up in her bed. She felt...stronger than yesterday, though still weak. But she was going to brush past that now, because something else called to her, something more important. Reaching to her nightstand for her glasses, Harmony accidently tipped over sketch book, sending the book to the floor, where it landed on a random page.

The sketch was of the midnight sky, illuminated by the full moon. But a large portion of the page looked as though she'd started procrastinating, as usual, and had started writing her own little arpeggios. Actually, she hadn't written them. She'd sketched them. Sketching Arpeggio's....sounded like a chick flick, Harmony's mind mused for a moment. But in the metaphorical sense...it was what life was all about, she realized.

Notes forming together to create a song, and the song becoming the basis of the way we lived. But in life, you couldn't just sketch all the notes out, or procrastinate and create them....no, in life you had to grow up quickly, and find out the hard way about things.

Shaking her red head, Harmony tried to keep herself from crying as she pushed back the covers of her bed. Standing up, Harmony realized it didn't pain her as much as it had the day before. Maybe because she was getting used to this, her mind mused. Like, getting used to school...though, that would probably never happen because learning was not fun, contradictory to what xJadeRainx would say. Harmony gave a soft laugh at the last sentence, her spirits lifting, if only a little.

Snapping her fingers, her nightgown was replaced with a pair of loose and actual faded jeans that had no real shape to them because they were so old and over washed. Grabbing a pen, Harmony quickly scrawled out a note to her par---the adults, telling them she'd be back before dinner.

Then, taking in a deep breath, and closing her eyes, Harmony did the hardest thing for her.

She thought of her room in Nebraska.

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**Why is she going back to her room in Nebraska? Is there a reason? Hm...find out if you review! **

**Alrighty xJadeRainx, feel proud that you lifted up Harmony's spirits. That's your prize, so jump up and down or pat yourself on the back (though, the first one seems like more fun!) Also, you know that song Tiamat was singing to triton? Well, i untranslated the words.....omg! *warning, this isn't a spoiler alert, i'll be good and not spill a word!* **

**She's such a bitch! I HATE HER I HATE HER I HATE HER! How could she?! GAH! I NEED TO KNOW! UPDATE SOON!**

**Alrighty, so the words in Ariel's lullaby aren't really atlantican, but i'm not telling you what language their from because, like me, i know everyone is always curious and they will go onto online translators and translate the words into english. It's a cute lullaby, and one day, i'll tell you what it meant, but for right now and for future spells (because using a different language is SO much easier than making up your own!) i'm not telling you what language it was in. If you do figure it out, keep it to yourself, because i don't want you to ruin the story! Oh and also i'll murder ur sorry ass....jk! OR AM I?! No, i am. REALLY?! Yes. I'm joking. OR ARE YOU?! Okay, you can stop that now. STOP WHAT NOW?! That, that caps thing. It's annoying me. REALLY?! shutup already!!!!!!!**

**REVIEW MAH STORAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!REVIEW MAH STORAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!REVEIW MAH STORAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**


	46. Chapter 46

Her room looked nothing like she'd ever imagined it be. Everything torn and broken, drawers open, clothes tossed randomly everywhere...made Harmony shudder at just the thought of it.

Wrapping her arms around herself in comfort, Harmony took a deep breath and walked out of her room. Into the hallway, and down the stairs, the girl dared not look at her brother's room door, for fear of breaking down and crying. There was already enough soft crying going on downstairs...she didn't need to add to it.

"Janice?" Harmony called out in a quiet voice, leaning against the wall in the living room as her mother was softly crying to herself. Or at least, her once mother. Calling the woman by her real name made Harmony feel awkward...but she knew that it had to be done, considering everything.

Janice looked up, startled, as she saw...Katherine leaning against the wall, her blue eyes gazing at her mother's puffy and red face. What she'd told everyone when they asked where the girl was, is that she'd been sent to live with relatives down in Miami, because the grief of losing her brother was too much for her. Austin had stayed the first two or three nights....and then he'd left, saying that the divorce was still going on, with or without any children.

"K-Katherine?" Her voice broke in the middle of the sentence, at just looking at the girl made her want to cry and hug her tightly. But she couldn't....the girl was a murderer. No matter what the doctors say, no matter what anyone says, Ryan did not kill himself. Katherine did. "G-Get out! Ryan is dead already---you have another family! Go to them and stay there! I don't want to see your face here ever again!" Janice screamed, but the girl barely blinked at the words. Slowly, she made sure her blue eyes were looking straight at Janice's with such a crystal fire that it made the grown woman fear for herself.

"I'm not staying here Janice, don't worry." Harmony said in an icy voice, maintaining the woman's real name in her sentence to drive the point home that she wasn't doing this for her. She needed to know where he was, and she needed to talk to him.

"Then why are you here?" Janice challenged, though, when she saw the fire in Harmony's eyes once again, she immediately regretted it. Still, the girl stayed completely calm on the outside, the only thing that was really portraying her anger was those big blue eyes of hers.

"Your going to tell me where my brother is buried, because like it or not, he _was_ my brother. I don't care if you think I killed him or not, that's your problem to deal with, but mine is to find out where my big brother is buried, so that I can pay my respects." Harmony's tone was commanding, not requesting, nor weak or feeble in any way. It was strong, confident, though on the inside she was a mess and had no idea how she was managing to do this.

Janice could have lied and said they had the boy cremated, or not chosen to speak at all...but it was that tone of voice that caught her. She'd never been one of the leader types; she'd always just numbly followed the crowd and hoped everything would turn out fine...unlike Harmony. "He's buried right underneath Old Warner's tree." Janice said, as Harmony nodded.

"Thank you." The girl said, before imagining the gates of the graveyard where she knew her brother would be buried. She offered no words of solace to the woman who'd raised her, and she barely looked at her too, just to prove that no matter what happened, she'd never be _her_ daughter again.

Harmony was at Old Warner's tree in the graveyard within seconds, and next to her, she saw a marble tombstone. Taking in another deep breathe, she kneeled down on the fresh frozen grass that had been placed over her brother's grave, as she read the words aloud to herself, softly.

"Ryan Johnson. Beloved son, brother, and friend to all. 1992-2009." Harmony said the words aloud to finally set in that in this ground...held her brother. But it didn't set in like it did in movies or in books, no; she just sat there, staring at the tombstone with her eyes, before slowly talking to him.

"Ryan....you were always the one to listen to me, so now, I'm begging you to do it. I don't really know what you were thinking when you put that knife into your heart....but I do know that the image of you slowly dying will forever haunt my nightmares. I understand...if you hate me for not loving you like you loved me....but Ryan, I'm fourteen. I can't be in love with anyone just yet, and my entire world is spinning in circles. I don't know where to turn, who to trust, what to do....everything is so hard and confusing. If you would have just waited a few years...but you didn't. And now, I'm talking to a tombstone, wondering if you can hear me from wherever you are." Harmony said in a still hushed voice, her words slowly forming sentences.

Everything hurt...so much...it was all so terrible...silent tears fell down the girl's face as she tried to think of better things, anything really that wasn't this.

"I'm so sorry Ryan...so sorry." Harmony cried out softly, letting her tears fall onto the frozen ground of where her brother lied. And she never even got to say goodbye to him...never got to say that he was her hero....never got to say how much he meant to her all these years as a friend, protector, big brother.

She had no flower to place on his already littered grave with them, but she had something just a bit better which she'd snatched from a cranny in her home, where she knew he'd hidden it.

"Here...it's your favorite Xbox game." Harmony said softly, as she tucked the box behind a flower so that it leaned against his tombstone. Biting her lip, she stared at the stone for awhile longer, still not understanding how this had happened. He was the only boy in the entire world who had never questioned her ideas, and just gone along with them, no matter how crazy or wild they seemed.

"So...so...so...so sorry."

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**Kind of sad, don't you think? Review, and i'll post up more tomorrow! NIGHTY NIGHT! **


	47. Chapter 47

"Hoot-hoot!" Harmony was startled awake by the sound of an owl, far off in the distance she supposed. It repeated its call again, this time showing itself to Harmony as it was perched on top of a tree. It's eyes glowed in the inky blackness of the night, as she could just make out it's head turned all around and staring at her. The girl shuddered. She'd never particularly liked owls; they always scared her with those huge eyes and those heads that could turn all away around...and then those _claws_! Shuddering once more, Harmony instinctively brought her hands up to her folded arms, rubbing them for warmth.

She was cold, she realized. Freezing in the 10 degree weather of Nebraska nights, as she only had a thin pair of jeans on and a short sleeved loose tee-shirt that hid whatever shape she'd managed to acquire. Looking up, she could see the full moon shining, but it's shine was muffled by an array of dark clouds that spelled snow, she saw.

She must have fallen asleep talking to---_him_. Taking in a deep gulp of breath so she didn't cry, Harmony stood up on her feet and leaned over to his tombstone. Putting two fingers to her mouth and kissing it, she pressed those fingers over the name _Ryan_, hoping he got the message that she missed him considerably, wherever he might be. She'd be back soon, she promised him mentally.

"Eric, where is she?!" Ariel was in a state of panicky distress as she paced the floor of her daughter's bedroom back and forth, pulling at her red locks and biting her nails. "It's already midnight and she's not back! What if something happened to her Eric?! What if she runaway again, or--or---" Ariel was cut off by Eric's gentle hand placing on her wrist, a silent reminder not to get to panicked because for all they knew, she was just hiding in the palace somewhere.

"She's probably fine Ariel." Eric's voice murmured, though it did little to calm his wife's nerves. She was still biting her nails, and pacing the room back and forth in worry as to where her daughter may be this late at night.

"Who's 'probably fine'?" A voice called from the shadows, causing both parents to stop in their tracks and whirl around. And there she was. Harmony, with her red hair in two separate low braids that fell to about the end of her rib cage as she tilted her head to the side in confusion at the question.

"Oh Harmony!" Ariel's voice was the first to break as she ran to her daughter, and held the girl close to her. "We were so worried; don't do that to us again! Do you understand?! You only left that note that said you'd be back by dinner, but you weren't, and we had no idea where you were at, and---are you _shivering_?! Where were you?!" Ariel's relieved mixed with a hint of anger for her daughter worrying her so much reached Harmony's ears, as she was hugged tightly against her mother.

"You were....worried...about...me?" Harmony managed to escape her mother's arms for a moment so she could point an unsure finger at herself as she bit her lip in confusion and tried to keep the tears from pouring out. She could already feel her throat closing up...she didn't need to cry right now though.

"Of course we were." Her father's silky voice said, as Harmony looked up at him. "You only left a note saying you'd be back by dinner...when you weren't....we had no idea where you were at...if you were safe or not." Eric said, placing a gentle hand on his daughter's shoulder, as the girl frowned, looking from him, to her mother, and so forth.

"Where were you sweetheart?" Ariel's gentle voice asked, as she stroked her daughter's hair. The girl gave no sign that she didn't like the gentle strokes of Ariel's fingers, who untangled the knots in her red hair.

"I-I went to Ryan's grave." Harmony said, biting her lip as she felt her eyes suddenly grow hot. "I-I wanted to-to talk to him, tell h-him I was s-sorry....I fell asleep I guess....he really i-is gone." Harmony's voice was a mix between sadness, hurt, betrayal, and most of all, pain. The girl's breathes came out ragged as she tried her best not to cry, to tell herself that it was alright. But it wasn't. He was _dead! _

"It's okay to cry Harmony." Ariel said softly to her daughter, with a glance up to her husband to signify that he should probably leave, if he didn't want to catch the water works. It's not that Eric didn't love his daughter's, Ariel mused, but it must be hard being the only male in a family of females...like her father had been. A single father of seven growing teenage girls...yikes.

"No. I-I'm a big girl." Harmony whispered softly, as vaguely she heard in the distance the opening and closing of a door. "And b-big girls don't cry." Harmony whispered even softer, brushing away the tears from her eyes. She was a big girl; tears were for babies....she didn't have to cry. She was stronger than that. She had to be.

"No. Your right, big girls don't cry." Ariel acknowledged, as she established eye contact with her daughter so that the girl knew that she was here for her, no matter what.

"But teenage girls do."

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**I will write more in my next chapter notes, but this one is just a kind of update. Sorry i didn't post last night, but I got off my friends boat like at midnight because we went down to Elliot Key which took us like three hours, for ten minutes of swimming. Anyway, review, and i'll be more funner in my next chapter notes! **

**WATERMELONPICKLEJUICE: Don't ask about my mind. It does this sometimes. **


	48. Chapter 48

Harmony was sobbing the second after her mother said that, and her mother just gathered the girl in her arms, not offering words of comfort but rather gently stroking her hair so that she knew she was still there. Harmony hadn't cried in so long, she'd been holding it all in. All her fears, all her worries, everything suddenly was crushing her, pressing down on the girl's life like a dark cloud impending doom.

"R-Ryan." Harmony's voice said, about three octaves above normal as she buried her face in her mother's shoulder, and let her mother just hold her tightly, like she should have been doing all along. "H-He's g-g-gone. Th-The tom-tomstone--how--oh mom!" Harmony cried out, her voice cracking when she said 'mom'.

"I know." Ariel said softly, as her daughter kept crying at that, some strands of her red hair sticking next to her now wet face. Harmony wiped off the snot that ran down her nose and into her mouth with her tee-shirt, trying to sniffle them all back as it created a glob of spit that ran down her throat.

"Here." Ariel murmured, grabbing a tissue and wiping off the girl's tears herself so she didn't have to use her shirt. Though, at the rate Harmony's tears were coming at, she supposed she'd need to get about a twelve pound box full of them.

"H-he promised t-to t-t-take me t-to the p-park...h-he was six-sixteen. H-He was-wasn't supposed t-to die!" Harmony blubbered, as she felt her mother gently wipe away her tears with another tissue. It wasn't fair!

"Of course he wasn't." Ariel agreed gently, guiding the girl to her dressing room now so that she could at least tuck the poor child into bed before she got another fever from falling asleep outside, in extremely cold weather.

"Sh-She still th-thinks I-I ki-killed h-him mom. She-she told me t-to go aw-away. T-to never c-come bac-back. My-My room wa-was des-destroyed...all my th-things...all my-my st-stuff." Harmony whispered, as she sobbed still. Ariel's brows furrowed at what her daughter was saying, but smartly kept her mouth shut so she didn't upset her anymore.

"Mhm." Ariel registered a sound in agreement as she took Harmony's loose shirt off of her and threw a warm nightgown over her head in its place.

"I-I---" Harmony didn't even finish her sentence as it was muffled by the nightgown and her mother's quick fingers than had her jeans off in seconds. Harmony _**really**_ didn't need to know where _that_ particular skill came from.

"You're going to sleep." Ariel said, steering her daughter back into her own room and into bed. Tucking the cover's up to the girl's chin, Ariel made sure she was completely wrapped up so she didn't catch anything....well, hopefully didn't catch anything from being out there so long.

"N-Not fair." Harmony's sob was so slow and sleepy that she sounded like a two year old throwing a tantrum, she knew. But she could care less because this wasn't over some stupid toy, no, this was over the boy who'd made sure her coat was buttoned up correctly as he held her hand when she was in kindergarten and he walked her to the bus stop.

"Of course it's not sweetheart." Ariel said, snuffing out the candle with her two fingers. Even after all these years on land, she silently mused with a phantom smile to herself, that one little trick always made her feel giddy that she could do it. "Goodnight honey." Ariel whispered, as she saw the girl was already half in dreamland. Kissing her daughter's forehead, Ariel walked out of the girl's room with a shake of her head to the girl, wondering how on earth she'd come to this.

The minute Harmony's heard her mother's footsteps down the hall, she carefully opened one eye, and then the other, as she brushed off tears with the back of her hand. It's not like she didn't want to sleep...she was just afraid of what she'd see if she did. Sitting up in her bed, the girl used her fingers as her candle as she sighed and stared up at the ceiling.

It wasn't anything like her ceiling used to be back in Nebraska, where she'd have glow in the dark stars all over so she could at least feel as though she was camping---in 0 degree weather that is. No, this ceiling was just plain, no chandelier hanging from it, no painting on it, nothing. Just plain white, and huge. Just boring---what?

Harmony's eyes squinted as she stared at a space on the ceiling that seemed different from the others, partly because a old type of handle was attached to it. But, the handle was painted white, so that if one just took a glance, they'd think it was nothing. But it was, Harmony's mind mused.

Sitting up in her bed, she stared at the thing for a moment before throwing her covers off of her. Standing up on the bed, she reached out an arm to try and touch the ceiling.....though, she knew it was hopeless. The ceiling was so high up, at least a good thirty feet or so above her head. Sighing, she sank back down on the bed, and put her thumb to her mouth to start chewing on the nail and to start thinking.

Sighing, she cranked her head all the way back as she looked up once more at the ceiling, before sighing again and looking back down. She couldn't reach it. It was just too high up....unless...of course!

Harmony didn't even have to think it before she was slowly floating upwards, a giddy sensation rising in her stomach, like butterflies flapping their wings. Her fingers wrapped around the handle tightly, as she tugged on it once...but nothing happened. Frowning, she tried tugging on it again, and again, each time a little harder, but nothing still happened. It must be stuck, she reasoned in her mind, before nodding her head once as she knew what to do now.

Spitting on both her hands, Harmony grabbed the handle with both of them, as her feet came to rest on the ceiling, as though she was on the ground. And she pulled with all her fourteen year old might (which in truth wasn't very much) and the thing finally groaned open (with a little *extra* help).

The girl slowly, and cautiously, went through the opening, using her right hand which was carrying the flame to show her the way. And what a way indeed. Harmony suddenly felt a cold blast of wind hit her face, when her head poked out from the door, and she looked out, and over. She was high in the air, and she had an amazing view of the sea from where she was, the girl realized, before making the mistake of looking down. That's when she realized where she was.

She was on the roof.

* * *

**AW! Poor Harmony, Poor worried parents, poor everyone. Or is it, everyone is poor? Naw, I like poor everyone better, sounds more like a hyper teenager writing this that way. **

**Alrighty, so, review, yadda yadda, you know the drill by now. Panthergal97, you get nothing for figuring out the song is in finnish, just the reward of making me smile, since i said KEEP IT TO YOURSELF! Not that i'm mad or anything, no, actually i'm pretty impressed that you figured it out. It looked like a bunch of chicken scratch to me!**

**Anyway, I'm hoping to close up this story by tomorrow, and then start on the next one, of course! But, what shall be the name? Any suggestions? Review and tell me your idea, and i'll see if I can use it as the title! But remember, it has to include a musical term. I don't care what term, but just a term. So keep that in mind as you review and tell me your ideas! Winner will get some sort of prize, that i'll figure out later what the prize is! **

**REVIEW!!!!!!!!**


	49. Chapter 49

Harmony's heart was pumping so hard the girl thought it would leap out of her chest, as she tried to calm herself down. Pulling her body upwards through the little roof door, Harmony was now sitting crossed legged on the very top of one of the towers of the palace.

"Just take deep breathes Kat....okay..." Harmony murmured to herself, breathing in and out as she tried not to think about what would happen if she fell. The tower roof was slanted, but not so much that Harmony was going to go falling off the second she moved. Still, she gripped the dirty roof tightly with her hands, making sure that no matter what she wouldn't fall off.

The roof, though high in the air, provided Harmony with something that she knew she'd needed for awhile. An escape. Just a quick escape from reality, letting her mind be clear and suddenly...._icy_, without the use of a blade or cigarettes. Just a quick moment where all of reality had slipped away, and all that was left was a girl sitting on the roof.

Everything in her life was spinning at the moment, just like a spinning wheel that kept going and going. Why couldn't she have one, just one person in the entire world that she could count on, forever?

John used to be that person....but his parents had dragged him away once they realized how serious his friendship was with 'the witch.' How he managed to be at that cursed Valentine's ball was beyond Harmony, but she knew that he wasn't close anymore. No, he was miles, and miles, and miles away from her.

Her sister...well, she just couldn't trust Melody with precious secrets anymore, not after what happened. Her parents wanted to understand, but for her to open back up to them, she had to forgive them....and after what they'd done to her...well, she didn't feel like opening up again, just to have her heart stomped on. Don't even mention her adopted parents, who think that she's killed....well,_ that_ whole thing.

Who in the world would rightly understand Harmony, and for once, not judge, not care, not treat her any differently? Who could just push past all of her quirks, and just treat her like a normal teenage girl again...like she was at school. School. That seemed so many miles away now, like part of a dream. Had it really only been a few days or so that she'd been wishing to get out of that soul crushing environment? Had she really been thinking a few days ago that school was so awful, so torturous?

Just a few days....in just a few days her life had changed so drastically. No, not a few days. A few _months_. This had been slowly leading up to it, the girl realized, this entire thing had been the iceberg, and she was the titanic. She'd been doomed from the start, the day she was born this was bound to happen.

Fate. Oh stupid fate! How she hated her fate! Fate that had led her to cut herself, something that she'd once joked about with her friends. Fate had led her to almost dying, quite a few times. She'd wished for an adventure, something different in her life, and fate had handed it to her. Fate had cruelly pushed her into a totally different world, showing her what she could never, or rather, would never be, no matter how hard she tried.

She'd never be a good princess, one that people respected, like her sister, or her Aunts. She'd never be a good witch, because once the word 'witch' is said, people immediately assume she'll try and kill them. And worst of all, she'd never be a good teenage girl again. She'd never be able to think her worst problem was that math homework she hadn't done the night before, she'd never be able to wish that her life was simpler. Never.

"_She's an underdog  
She's always heard you won't amount to anything  
And it kills me to watch the agony beyond her eyes  
Tragic the way people pass her by  
But now I realize_

That girl always just took it as it was, every slow day at a time....but did they ever think about what she may feel like?

_That everyone sees her  
But nobody knows her  
She screams in her pillow  
For a better tomorrow _

No one knew how much pain that girl was in, but she knew...oh, she knew all too well that no one cared, and that the pain would never go away. _  
_

_She hates it  
But she takes it  
Watch out for that girl  
One day she may change the world_

One day the world might accept that girl....but for now she was just an underdog...but what if that day never came?

_She's original  
But doesn't seem to fit in  
She's looks at them and just wishes  
That she could be them_

That girl had tried so hard, always trying to fit into her world....that just seemed to keep rejecting her.

_Someday she hopes they'll see how cool she really is  
But she knows that girlish dreams don't matter  
But she just keeps on hopin' _

She was always at the bottom, holding the ladder but never allowed to climb on.

_That everyone sees her  
But nobody knows her  
She screams in her pillow  
For a better tomorrow _

Oh god how she hoped that they would listen to her, for once, and not judge because of who she was! _  
_

_She hates it  
But she fakes it  
Watch out for that girl _

That girl faked her way through two different personalities...never really fitting in as either girl.

_One day she may change the world..."_ The girl's broken whisper said, as she sobbed in her knees, now knowing who that girl was. The girl who always had high hopes...and watched one by one as they slowly faded into the distance, or were crushed by the cruelness of the world.

That girl was Harmony.

* * *

**I refuse to post anymore if xJadeRainx won't post up a chapter for me! I need to know! **

**Also, I didn't really think that when I started the whole 'choose the title' contest, that you guys would all do it! Not that i'm mad, I'm just really surprised, and happy that you all have great story titles. But, I'm afraid that I have to remind you guys, that though your titles are GREAT, and I mean, I love them to death, the ones that say 'Broken ----' I can't exactly use, considering I have a story titled 'Broken Waltz'. That's just my OCD-ness piping up I guess. Though, I'm not going to name any specifically right now, but there's quite a few that I'm definitely considering! Keep thinking of titles, and I'll try to use the one I love the most (ohmygod, that's going to be so freaking HARD!)!!**

**Alrighty, so review this chapter, xJadeRainx, post up faster, and remember, any of you that want to use Harmony as your character in a story you want to write, don't hesistate to use her. I don't mind, as long as you can send me a PM and tell me that you want to use her, so that I can read your story and review! YAY! **

**So....I like peanut butter and strawberry Jelly....you? I know a kid who's allergic to strawberry jelly...he breaks out into hives if he touches it....i threw it at his face today during the food fight at lunch....I learned something new today too. Never throw strawberry jelly to a kid who's trying to hide under the table. It doesn't end well. :() But at least they don't know I threw it! :P!! And I hated that kid anyway, so it's like a double whammy! Whammy...sounds like whale....no not really...well...yeah I guess...no...kind of...sort of...no...yess...review, and i'll figure this out soon!  
**

**REVIEW AND POST YOUR TITLE NAMES! **

**(P.S. I had a fantastical idea just now! For those of you who's title's I don't use, I can always use them as chapter names! Though, the prize of who I do choose will be...um...yeah, figure out that yourself, 'cuz I don't want to think when i'm not in school!) **

**REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**


	50. Chapter 50

When Harmony's tears eventually subsided, the girl saw that dawn was already starting to break through the clouds, silent as a nun the sun crept up higher and higher into the clouds, and Harmony knew her time was limited here on the roof before people came out and discovered she'd managed to get herself up there. Still...she didn't want to go down, at least, not yet. She wanted to stay this icy, to be able to think clearly, without having to talk.

Glancing at her wrist, a digital watch appeared as she read the time. 6:30. She only had minutes now, before she was exposed completely on the roof. School would be starting in 2 and a half hours. What?

Harmony's brows furrowed as she thought that last thought through. Why was she thinking of school, at a time like this? What did school have to do with anything? School, the socialization of classes, lunch, kids...why was she even thinking of that, now when she should be thinking about crawling back into bed before her mother or someone else found out she'd been on the roof?

Sighing, Harmony shook out her red locks, and with a final look towards the sun, she eased her legs into the trap door on her ceiling first. Then, making sure she was floating in midair, she slowly let the rest of her body in, before closing the door lightly, so that she could use it the next night, or whenever else she wanted to be icy.

She lowered herself to her bed, but most curious of all, was that her thoughts weren't on sleeping. Rather, they were on the calculations on how long it would take her to get ready for school. Why did she keep thinking of her classes, now when her world was spinning? Why did she keep on pretending that she could go to them, as though nothing had happened? Everything was different now, she couldn't go back to being a freshmen. No. No way could she do it.

Harmony once again, shook her red head and grabbed her sketch book and pastels, as she imagined the sunrise in her mind once more. The pastel's her parents had given her for her last birthday were high quality, the type that would've taken Harmony about 6 months worth of an allowance to save up for.

In all her life, the girl had never had such fine instruments to draw with, though; these instruments were starting to wear away from how much she'd been drawing with them. Soon, the girl knew, she'd be reduced to, like usual, only sketching with a pencil, and not filling in the lines with her pastels because she wanted to save the itty bitty pieces of them that were left for something good. She could hint to her parents that she was running low....but, it didn't seem like something she'd want to do. She wasn't a complainer; she could live with it. She could live with bad pastels.

Just like...she could live with bad stuff in her life, the girl slowly came to realize. An epiphany just hit her like a ton of bricks, as she gasped, and dropped her sketchbook. She'd lived through bad stuff before...but all those times before she'd never had a friend to help her through it. But she did have a friend, the girl slowly thought to herself. The one friend who'd been patient all along, and who hadn't asked questions to Harmony's farfetched lies. The one friend who Harmony knew would treat her the same as always.

Looking at the grandfather clock in her room, Harmony realized that it was already 7:30. If she hurried....she just might make it. But she'd have to really hurry, like super fast. With a slow nod a tiny smile lighting up her features, the girl grabbed her sketch book, and stuffed it into her bag.

Then, running to her simple drawers that held some of her clothes, the girl pulled on thick clothes, as then she ran to her wash basin. Brushing out her teeth and washing her hectic face, Harmony ran her fingers through her knotted red hair, deciding that it wasn't too bad, and that she could live without brushing it.

Grabbing a piece of paper and a pencil, the girl wrote out a single sentence to her parents, and then placed it on her messy bed, knowing that they'd get it sooner or later when they came to see how she was doing.

And then, the girl thought of that one place in the entire world, where she knew her friend was. She disappeared within seconds.

Later, when Eric and Ariel would come into their daughter's room, they would find her missing, and the only explanation a simple note hastily scribbled out in the girl's chicken scratch for handwriting. And as they both tried to translate the horrible penmanship into actual English, they looked at each other with wide shocked and worried eyes, as Melody grabbed the note and read it to herself, for she knew how to read her sister's handwriting anywhere. And the note read:

Went to school, be back 'round 3

H.

* * *

**The End. At least, for this story! I will, probably start my next one of this series thursday, because wednesday I have to study for alot of quizzes and stuff, but lemme see if I can try to push for tomorrow, that is, if I get a good title.....**

**Winner of the title contest will get their name said by character of choice, and will get to choose any idea they want for a chapter---or two. If they want dragons, I'll put in a dragon (somehow!) or elves or whatever, I'll do it, and they'll get a special mention! That's the best I can do for the winner, but I think it's a pretty good prize. Losers will get their title names (if I like them enough, HA!) published as chapter names. So it's like everyone wins, except at the same time, you lose cuz you don't get to choose an idea for a chapter! HA HA! **

**Rember, review, and tell me you title ideas! BUT ONLY BY REVIEW, so that way everyone knows what they have to top! :P!!**

**REVIEW! **

***special thanks* To all who made this story possible, by reading, reviewing, and to me especially! HA! YOU THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO SAY YOU! Lol, no you guys too. Kind of. Not really. No. Well...yes. Like peanut butter and strawberry jelly. Now i'm hungry! DAMN YOU FRUIT LOOPS! **

**....has anyone else noticed that Tucan Sam has been on that 'voyage' searc****hing for fruity treasure for like, two years, with only little boys as his companions? Like, I don't think he's SEEN a girl bird since the voyage took off...and what a voyage it's been. Sharks, pirates, giant squids, caves, animals that take fruit loops....crap, it's worse than the odessey!**


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